The man accused of murdering four Idaho college students is set to appear in court on Tuesday. Law&Crime will provide live coverage of Bryan Kohberger, 28, showing up for an extradition hearing in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. It is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, but we are running a live Q&A ahead of time. Cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom.
Four students at the University of Idaho — Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Madison Mogen, 21 — were stabbed to death at off-campus housing in the early morning hours of Nov. 13. Some, but not all, of them were killed as they slept, according to the Latah County Coroner. The mystery murders rocked their sleepy college town of Moscow, Idaho. The highly publicized search for the culprit or culprits reached a pivotal turning point on Friday, with Kohberger’s arrest.
“Well, I think everybody was relieved,” Goncalves family attorney Shannon Gray told Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy. “The family was relieved. And, you know, it’s long from over. That chapter’s kind of closed, at least, and then now the next chapter starts, the whole criminal justice process. And so I think everyone had a little bit of relief and was able maybe to sleep at night. And then, now it’s back to the grind again.”
Kohberger is a PhD student, studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, but he was arrested at his parents’ Monroe County home early Friday morning.
“This morning, the Washington State University Police Department assisted Idaho law enforcement officials in the execution of search warrants at Mr. Kohberger’s apartment and office, which are both located on the WSU campus,” the school said in a statement released Friday. “WSU Police are working closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement officials as they continue their investigation.”
The probable cause affidavit remains unsealed until after he gets brought to the Gem State. Kohberger’s Pennsylvania public defender Jason Allen LaBar previously said the defendant plans on waiving extradition. Kohberger initially waived his Miranda rights but then asked for an attorney, LaBar said.
“First and foremost we care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children,” Kohberger’s family said in a statement released through LaBar. “There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them. We will continue to let the legal process unfold, and as a family, we will love and support our son and brother. We have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions.”
It is unclear who will represent him in Idaho. Kohberger’s parents cannot afford a lawyer for him, so he will have to have a public defender in Idaho, LaBar has said. That state lacks a public defender system. Instead, four attorneys in Latah County are contracted for such work, but local lawyer Cathy Mabbutt has a conflict of interest because of her job as the county coroner. That also excludes another lawyer in her office.
Mabbutt can’t represent Kohberger because she’s conflicted out. So is another lawyer in her office who also does PD work. So, there are two other lawyers in the county who could be appointed to represent Kohberger 3/3 @LawCrimeNetwork
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) January 3, 2023
She didn’t perform the autopsies. She’s not a pathologist. They contract with a pathologist in Spokane for that. But, she has a conflict b/c of her role as coroner, knowing autopsy results, being at the scene in that role, etc. https://t.co/05rk3m5sSq
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) January 3, 2023
Mabbutt previously spoke about the case, telling Boise-based NBC affiliate KTVB in a Nov. 18 report that some of the students were killed in their beds and some were “likely” asleep when they died. She did not identify those particular victims.
Colin Kalmbacher and Angenette Levy contributed to this report.
[Mugshot of Kohberger via Monroe County Correctional Facility; image of the Monroe County courthouse via Sierra Gillespie]
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