Bryan Kohberger back in court for likely final pretrial hearing in Idaho student killings case

Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology grad student accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is set to appear in court Thursday in what may be his last pre-trial hearing before the start of his death penalty trial.

Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology grad student accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is set to appear in court Thursday in what may be his last pretrial hearing before the start of his much-anticipated trial. Kohberger, 30, faces four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were fatally stabbed at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in the overnight hours of November 13, 2022. Kohberger was arrested in the killings over a month later in his home state of Pennsylvania. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf in May 2023. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in late July, with the trial slated to start August 11. If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty. The lurid case has riveted the public and has already been featured in multiple true crime documentaries. Still, prosecutors have not outlined his potential motive, and a sweeping gag order has kept the parties from speaking publicly, making each pretrial hearing an opportunity to quench the public’s thirst to learn more details. Recent pretrial hearings have touched on the admissibility of key pieces of evidence, including Kohberger’s autism diagnosis, DNA analysis, his Amazon purchase history and a witness’s description of the suspect’s “bushy eyebrows.”