MOSCOW, Idaho (Court TV) — The man accused of murdering four college students in their home is due in court on Friday for two hearings, but the public will only be able to watch one of them.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a motion hearing regarding a gag order, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)
Bryan Kohberger is charged with murder and burglary for the deadly stabbings of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves on Nov. 13, 2022. The four victims were students at the University of Idaho when they were found brutally murdered in the home they shared.
The court has scheduled two separate hearings in Kohberger’s case for Friday, Jan. 26, but has ordered that the first hearing be closed from the public.
The first hearing, scheduled for 11 am PT will address a renewed defense motion to dismiss the indictment on the grounds of a biased grand jury, inadmissible evidence, lack of sufficient evidence and prosecutorial misconduct. The hearing will also cover a request by the defense to unseal their motion to reconsider the court’s denials.
RELATED: Judge denies Bryan Kohberger’s motion to dismiss indictment
In their motion requesting the documents be made public, Kohberger’s attorneys said that all previous motions relating to the grand jury proceedings, which are always kept secret, have previously been sealed and “Mr. Kohberger sought sealing of his filings solely based on email communications with the Latah County Prosecutor’s office stating they wanted the filings sealed.”
The prosecution has filed a motion objecting to the unsealing of the documents but filed their response under seal.
At 1 pm PT, the court will hold a second hearing for Kohberger, but this will be open to the public and broadcast live on CourtTV.com. That hearing will address a separate motion from the defense, which is asking the judge to reconsider his previous refusal to dismiss the indictment for inaccurate instructions to the grand jury. That motion argued that the grand jury should have been told to find “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” rather than current Idaho law, which states, “The grand jury ought to find an indictment when all the evidence before them, taken together, if unexplained or uncontradicted, would, in their judgment, warrant a conviction by trial jury.”
Following the hearings, the judge has set a scheduling conference, where the parties are expected to set a date for what is predicted to be a six-week trial.
