LATAH COUNTY, Idaho — State prosecutors raised concerns to a Latah County judge about a recent phone survey contracted by the defense team of Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, and said it possibly compromised potential jurors.
The defense team for Kohberger hired a company to conduct a survey to gauge the potential jury pool in Latah County, Idaho, where the 2022 killings took place. They called 400 people living in the county and asked them what they knew or had heard about the case.
"Question: Have you read, seen or heard if police found a knife sheath on the bed next to one of the victims? Question: Have you read, seen or heard that DNA found on the knife sheath was later matched to Bryan Kohberger?" said Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson on April 4.
Four college students, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death on Nov. 13, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is charged with first-degree murder in their deaths.
Questions in the survey ranged from asking people if they had seen, read or heard if Kohberger's DNA was found on a weapon at the scene, if a car similar to the one he drove was found at the scene and if he had stalked one of the victims, among other inquiries.
State prosecutors said they did not have an issue with the survey being conducted, but that the questions asked in the survey were “reckless and outrageous,” Thompson said. The state filed a motion on the survey on Friday, March 29, and the judge stopped the surveying.
“There is absolutely no question that those questions are disseminating, by means of communication, evidence expected to be presented, evidence that could be or would be inadmissible at trial … I will say there are a number of these representations placed in the form of a question by representation of fact that are not true,” Thompson said.
Kohberger’s defense attorney Anne Taylor told Judge John Judge, who is overseeing the case, that she did not see the questions prior to the survey being conducted, and that the hired company created the questions based off of media coverage. However, the state claims the questions violated a previous order by the judge, which states attorneys cannot disclose case details to the public.
“I didn’t write the questions,” Taylor said. "But I approved him [the hired contractor] doing this survey."
"We've been working very, very hard to keep this sort of noise out of the case," Judge said. "And now it's been injected, to at least these 400 people."
Taylor responded that "nobody is injecting anything into the case." Taylor argued that less than 1% of the county's population had been surveyed.
Prosecutors asked the judge to make the defense start the survey over and approve the questions in advance.
“Both sides have worked so hard ... to protect a fair trial,” Judge said, adding that the concern from the beginning was media coverage surrounding the trial. “I’m just surprised that both of you didn’t come together and say ‘there’s certain things we shouldn’t put into the public on a telephone call.’ It really concerns me.”
The judge did not make a decision on Thursday, and scheduled another hearing for April 10. Until then, the defense team cannot continue surveying people – which further delays the case.