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PROSECUTORS have shown support for Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers’ request to not allow cameras during the trial of the Idaho murders suspect.
Both sides have expressed concerns about the use of cameras in a much-anticipated trial after Kohberger allegedly stabbed four University of Idaho students to death in November 2022.
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Prosecuting attorney Bill Thompson requested the trial judge at least remove cameras during the testimony of “a number of young and vulnerable witnesses.”
These witnesses include the two surviving housemates who were in the off-campus Moscow home when their friends were murdered.
Thompson said with the substantial coverage of the case, “certain witnesses have already been subjected to threats and harassment, including physical intrusions, directed at not only the witnesses and other University coeds, but their extended families and friends.”
The defense already asked Latah County District Judge John Judge in late August to exclude cameras from the trial as the coverage would violate Kohberger’s constitutional rights.
If cameras were allowed, the trial judge said in a late June hearing that the cameras would not be allowed to solely focus on Kohberger, but rather film a wide shot of the courtroom.
Jay Logsdon, Kohberger’s defense attorney, mentioned the judge’s statement from the hearing in his request to remove cameras altogether.
He argued that the coverage of the allegations against Kohberger after the judge’s warning is creating bias among potential jurors.
“Observers’ continued failure to comply with the Court’s June 27th directive compounds this problem and results in the potential jury pool’s constant inundation with conclusory accusations and sensationalistic nonsense guised as factual reporting and analysis,” the filing said.
Despite support from both sides, a decision has yet to be made regarding cameras in court, but a hearing about the issue is set for Wednesday.
People on social media were not afraid to share their opinions on whether cameras should be allowed during Kohberger’s trial.
“We need cameras!” one person said on X, formerly Twitter.
Another wrote: “You can’t hide.”
“I hope we get to watch,” a third chimed in.
Kohberger has been in jail awaiting trial since his arrest in December 2022.
Moscow police zeroed in on the suspect at his parent’s house in Pennslyvania after linking him to the murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Kohberger was a criminology PhD student at Washington State University in Pullman, about a 15-minute drive from the college students’ house, when he allegedly committed the murders.
The murder weapon has never been found, but police did recover a knife sheath with DNA on it that prosecutors say is a likely match to Kohberger.
Despite the evidence against Kohberger, the judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary at his arraignment in May.
