Bryan Kohberger watched from his Idaho jail as the judge in his quadruple murder case made a critical decision about the far-reaching gag order.
In a brief court hearing Thursday, Judge Steven Hippler granted a request from a media coalition – including Daily Mail – to lift the order ahead of Kohberger’s sentencing for the stabbing murders of four students.
‘At this point I do not believe the purpose of the non-dissemination order – the primary purpose that we can seat an impartial jury – is at play,’ Hippler said, later adding: ‘At this point I just don’t think I can justify the continuance of the non-dissemination order.’
Dressed in a burgundy t-shirt, Kohberger watched the proceedings over Zoom from Ada County Jail – the first time he has been seen in public since pleading guilty to four counts of murder and one count of burglary.
A gag order of some sorts – known as a non-dissemination order – has been in place since the early days blocking law enforcement, attorneys for both sides and other officials from speaking publicly about the case.
The order – together with the broad sealing of records and evidence by the court – has restricted what information the public and the victims’ families have had access to throughout the almost three-year-long proceedings.
Yet the court ruled it was necessary to protect Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.
But now, in a stunning turn of events, Kohberger has avoided trial after he finally confessed to the murders of 21-year-old best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves and 20-year-old couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Dressed in a burgundy t-shirt, Kohberger watched the proceedings over Zoom from Ada County Jail
The 30-year-old criminology PhD student broke into a student home in Moscow, Idaho, in the dead of the night on November 13, 2022, and stabbed the four victims to death.
He was arrested around six weeks later but spent more than two years fighting the charges.
On July 2 – just over a month before his trial was set to begin – he changed his plea to guilty in a hearing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise.
The bombshell development came after his defense struck a controversial plea deal with prosecutors that means the case will no longer go to trial and he will be spared from the death penalty.
Instead he will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and will waive all rights to appeal.
He will be sentenced on July 23.
Despite Kohberger no longer facing trial, Judge Hippler said in the hearing that the gag order would remain in place through sentencing.
Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson told the judge it would help the state ‘have time to make sure there’s the ability to completely answer questions’ when the order is lifted.
Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (together on left), Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (together on right) were murdered in a brutal knife attack
The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, where the four students were murdered
Judge Hippler agreed, saying it would give the prosecution and defense time to prepare for ‘what I’m sure will be the deluge of media requests.’
Following the hearing, a coalition of media organizations – including the Daily Mail – filed a motion to lift the gag order, arguing Kohberger’s guilty plea had ‘sharply changed the Sixth Amendment fair trial/First Amendment balance in this case.’
Now that Kohberger has pleaded guilty and will no longer stand trial, the court’s justification that the gag order is necessary to protect Kohberger’s right to a fair trial is ‘moot,’ the motion said.
‘There is no possible set of circumstances under which Mr. Kohberger will ever face a jury to determine his guilt or to determine whether the death penalty should be imposed,’ the coalition argued.
‘No trial will occur. Thus, there is no need to preserve Mr. Kohberger’s ‘right to a fair trial’ because he has already admitted guilt.’
A hearing for arguments on the motion to vacate the non-dissemination order was scheduled for Thursday and both the defense and prosecution filed responses.
The prosecution said it would no longer oppose the removal of the gag order.
‘Upon further reflection, the State withdraws its request. Now that the Defendant has pleaded guilty as charged to all five (5) counts of the Indictment, his right to a fair trial on the issue of guilt is no longer at issue,’ the prosecution said in its filing.
‘Nevertheless, out of respect for the integrity of the judicial process and the privacy of the victims and their families as they consider their rights to provide victim impact statements at sentencing, the prosecution team does not intend to make any public statements about this case until after sentencing has concluded. ‘
But Kohberger’s defense attorneys argued the gag order should remain in place through sentencing citing the ‘ongoing publicity regarding the case and threats to Mr. Kohberger’s safety.’
‘The amount of publicity coming before sentencing, even with the Revised Order in place, is massive. Further release would only serve to gin up the anger and violent rhetoric already at a fever pitch,’ lead attorney Anne Taylor wrote.
‘Again, this Court is well aware of the threats posed not only to Mr. Kohberger, but to his family and to Court staff.’
The lifting of the order would increase the ‘media frenzy’ around the case and ‘change the atmosphere near the courthouse and may well push security needs beyond capacity’ at the sentencing, the filing argued.
The defense also pointed to the ongoing investigation into a potential evidence leak in the case in violation of the gag order.
The probe was launched after a recent Dateline episode revealed never-before-seen details including Kohberger’s internet history.
Kohberger’s defense argued that lifting the gag order while the probe is ongoing ‘would only confound the efforts in the investigation into who actually violated the nondissemination order and makes the investigators job close to impossible.’
Judge Steven Hippler ordered the gag order to remain in place through to sentencing
As well as the request to lift the gag order, the media coalition has also filed a separate motion asking Judge Hippler to unseal all records in the case arguing that Kohberger’s change of plea means ‘there is no reason for this case to remain cloaked in secrecy.’
The judge has not made a ruling on the matter.
Despite Kohberger’s guilty plea, a lot of information about the murders remains a mystery.
The 30-year-old has not revealed a motive for the attack and there is no known connection between him and his victims.
During the change of plea hearing, Thompson revealed that Kohberger bought a KaBar knife and sheath from Amazon in March 2022 – months before the killings.
In June 2022, he moved from his parents’ home in Pennsylvania to Pullman, Washington, where he enrolled on the criminal justice PhD program at Washington State University.
From the following month onwards, his cell phone pinged close to the victims’ home at 1122 King Road – indicating that he likely stalked or surveilled at least one of the women who lived there.
At around 4am on November 13, 2022, Kohberger broke into the three-story home and went straight up to Mogen’s room on the third floor, where he murdered Mogen and Goncalves.
Left to right: Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
Bryan Kohberger at his change of plea hearing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise on July 2
On his way back downstairs or on leaving the property, the prosecutor said he encountered Kernodle on the second floor, who had just received a DoorDash food order.
He attacked her with the knife and then also murdered Chapin who was sleeping in her bed.
Kohberger then left through the back sliding door on the second story of the property, passing roommate Dylan Mortensen who had been woken by the noise and peeked around her bedroom door.
Mortensen and roommate Bethany Funke – whose bedroom was on the first floor – were the only survivors.
Prosecutors believe Kohberger did not intend to kill all four victims that night – but did enter the home intending to kill and had planned his attack for some time.
He was tracked down, after he left a Ka-Bar leather knife sheath next to Mogen’s body at the scene. Through Investigative Genetic Genealogy, the FBI managed to trace DNA on the sheath to Kohberger.
Kohberger will return to Ada County Court for his sentencing on July 23, where the families of the victims will be given the opportunity to deliver impact statements.
