Bryan Kohberger asks court for change of venue after delays in Idaho student murders trial

 Idaho student massacre suspect Brian Kohbarger has filed for a change of venue, asking the court to allow his trial to be held elsewhere in the college town where he is accused of massacring a group of undergraduates. Some of whom were sleeping.

"A fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County due to the extensive, inflammatory pre-trial publicity, the allegations made to the public about Mr. Kohbarger by the media, which would be unacceptable at his trial, the small size of the community, the sexual The nature of the alleged crimes and the seriousness of the allegations against Mr. Kohbarger,” Kohbarger's lead defense attorney, Anne Taylor, wrote in a Tuesday court filing made public Wednesday evening.

Kohbarger, a 29-year-old Pennsylvania criminology Ph.D. The student was attending Washington State University in the neighboring city of Pullman, across the state border, where prosecutors allege he broke into an off-campus home around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022, and killed four University of Idaho students. The students were murdered with a big knife. Moscow, Idaho.

Moscow is the seat of Latah County and houses about half of its population of 40,000, not including school students.

Taylor wrote, "Increasing the jury pool will do nothing to overcome that pervasive bias because Latah County does not have a population center large enough to avoid bias in the community." "Furthermore, the size of the community and the interconnectedness of its citizens is problematic and will prevent a fair and impartial pool of potential jurors."

David Gelman, a New Jersey defense attorney who is tracking the case, called it the latest move in Kohbarger's "kitchen sink defense," which has included a number of procedural attempts to throw out or delay the case.

Last week, Taylor asked the court to delay Kohbarger's trial until at least 2025, arguing that she did not have enough time to complete discovery or interview more than a fraction of the witnesses. Latah District Judge John Judge held off on setting a trial date, but rejected Taylor's efforts to have the charges against his client dismissed.

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"If I were their lawyer, I would have done the same thing, and I would have done it a long time ago," Gelman told Fox News Digital. "Forty thousand people is not a lot of people. The problem is that they're in a state where there aren't that many people to begin with, and this case has grabbed so much national publicity that they'll make that argument, even if it's in Be a densely populated area."

Changes in venue can be rare but can happen in high-profile cases, such as the double murder trial of "cult mom" Lori Vallow of Idaho and Scott Peterson of California.

"It was expected, 100%," said Edwina Alcox, a prominent Idaho defense attorney who previously represented Vallow.

"What's notable is that prosecutors have already begun opposing this motion through comments made in court," he told Fox News Digital. “A change of venue seems entirely appropriate in this case.”

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the judge during a hearing last week that the case has already received global attention and media coverage and a change of venue would not be necessary.

The November 2022 murders of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Zanna Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, scandalized the nation.

A surviving homeowner saw a masked man walk out the back door after hearing sounds of a struggle minutes after the attack, but police were not called until noon the next day.

It took more than six weeks for police to catch a suspect. They arrested Kohbarger at his parents' home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania after a lengthy investigation, which also included help from the FBI and police from several states.

The judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohbarger's behalf at his arraignment in May. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

The trial was initially expected to last six weeks, but lawyers now expect it to last 12 to 15 weeks. The judge has not yet set a start date.