Community Outcry: Calls Flood Police As Defense Conducts Survey In Bryan Kohberger Murder Case

Anne Taylor, Kohberger's lead lawyer, has alleged that the residents of Latah County have shown prejudice against her client, following their reports to the police about a defense expert contacting them for a survey.

In a court filing on March 22, 2024, Taylor wrote, "The afternoon filing was done with the intention of obtaining an immediate order without a hearing. Of note, due to the bias and interconnectivity in Latah County, citizens called police and the prosecutor about the survey." The survey in question forms part of the defense's strategy to gather evidence before a change of venue hearing, where Kohberger's team will attempt to move the case to a larger jurisdiction with a more diverse jury pool.

Taylor has also accused Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson of attempting to bypass due process in his request to prohibit both sides from contacting potential jurors. She stated, "The ability of a prosecutor to have an order signed by a judge within the same building, within a few hours of the filing, and a specific fear the Defense had articulated to the State during the March 21, 2024 meeting, is evidence of the State’s intention to facilitate a due process violation."

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The defense team engaged a social psychologist, Bryan Edelman, to conduct the polling. Taylor admitted in her filing that "many" of Edelman's questions about "media influence" are "NOT factually correct." However, Edelman, in a signed declaration, refuted any violation of the gag order with his questions, stating that none of them "included any information that was not widely reported and available in the public domain."

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April 04, 2024

Thompson, on the other hand, has accused the defense of violating a sealed court order regarding the survey by discussing case specifics and disclosing inadmissible information. He also alleged that the juror survey questions violated the judge's restrictive gag order and requested the judge to terminate contact. Judge John Judge concurred, prohibiting juror contact "until further notice" and scheduling a hearing "as soon as practicable" to fully discuss the motions.

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Kohberger, a 29-year-old Ph.D. student in criminology at Washington State University, had been studying violent criminals, including serial killer BTK, whose real name is Dennis Rader. The university campus is a mere 10-minute drive from Moscow, Idaho, where the four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in a 4 a.m. home invasion stabbing attack in their off-campus house.

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The victims, Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were all massacred in the attack. Court documents reveal that police found Kohberger's DNA on a Ka-Bar knife sheath left under Mogen's body and placed his car and cellphone in the vicinity of the crime scene.