Judge says Kohberger’s family can attend trial

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Bryan Kohberger’s immediate family members may attend his upcoming quadruple-murder trial in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, even if they might be called to testify, a judge ruled in an order made public Thursday.

Witnesses in criminal cases are sometimes excluded from attending trials to prevent them from shaping their testimony in response to what other witnesses have said or what evidence has been presented. But Judge Steven Hippler wrote that Kohberger’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial also entitles him to have his parents and siblings present if they want to attend.

“Courts recognize that having defendant’s family members present at trial advances the values served by the right to public trial,” Hippler wrote.

Kohberger, 30, a former graduate student in criminal justice at nearby Washington State University, is charged in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.

Prosecutors have said they intended to seek the death penalty. The trial is set to begin in August.

Hippler said the court must balance Kohberger’s right to a public trial with the state’s interest in obtaining forthright testimony from witnesses. But he said there is little risk of Kohberger’s family members shaping what they might say from the witness stand in response to what they observe at the trial: The scope of their proposed testimony is narrow, and they have given recorded interviews that will help guard against them altering what they say.