Judge weighs challenge to gag order in University of Idaho killings
Family Law
A judge overseeing the case against Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall, heard arguments Friday over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters.
A coalition of more than 30 media organizations has challenged the order, saying it violates the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and a free press, as has a lawyer for one of the victim’s families. But prosecutors and the defendant’s lawyers insist it’s needed to prevent prejudicial news coverage that could damage Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.
“It remains appropriate to have an Order reminding lawyers and their agents of the rules of engagement in this country and that we try cases in court, not in the press,” one of Kohberger’s attorneys, Jay Weston Logsdon, wrote in a memo to the court this week.
Second District Judge John C. Judge indicated he would rule later on the gag order and on a separate issue of whether to allow cameras in the courtroom during further proceedings.
Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. Judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf last month. Prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty.
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The slayings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.
Related listings
-
Judge dismisses lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Family Law 07/10/2023An Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice by survivors of the deadly racist rampage.Judge Caroline Wall on Friday dismissed with prejudic...
-
Lawyer Eastman faces a disciplinary hearing over a plot to keep Trump
Family Law 06/21/2023An effort to disbar conservative attorney John Eastman, who devised ways to keep President Donald Trump in the White House after his defeat in the 2020 election, will begin Tuesday in Los Angeles.Eastman is expected to spend the day testifying before...
-
Convictions tossed in 2016 death of 16-year-old shot in minivan in Trenton
Family Law 06/19/2023An appeals court in New Jersey has tossed out the convictions of a man sentenced to 55 years in prison after being tried as a teenager in the 2016 death of a girl who was shot in a minivan as she and other juveniles were riding around Trenton.The cou...