An Idaho judge is warning attorneys to quit filing so many sealed documents in the murder case of a man accused in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students.
Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorneys and prosecutors have made secrecy the norm rather than an exception, 4th District Judge Steven Hippler wrote in a court order on Monday.
“This runs counter to the public’s First Amendment rights to know what is going on in its courts,” Hippler wrote. He ordered the attorneys to use the least restrictive steps necessary to protect confidential information in the case, such as redacting some lines or using initials instead of an individual’s full name.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, students who were killed in the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home near their campus in Moscow, Idaho. When asked to enter a plea last year, Kohberger stood silent, prompting a judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
Hippler’s directive came as a flurry of new motions were filed ahead of the August trial, including a sealed defense motion to take the death penalty off the table that cited autism spectrum disorder.
Other sealed motions include one on whether the terms “psychopath” or “sociopath” can be used during the trial, and one from prosecutors about the presence of immediate family members in the courtroom during the trial. Some of the currently sealed documents will be redacted and made public, and others will remain sealed, the judge ruled.
A trial is expected to begin Aug. 11 and last for more than three months. The judge has said no one would be allowed into the courtroom but that the open portions of the trial would be livestreamed from the court’s YouTube page.
Last month, Hippler declined to throw out key evidence against Kohberger, saying that the genetic investigation process that it hinges on was not unconstitutional. Hippler was not swayed by legal arguments made by Kohberger’s defense team that law enforcement violated his constitutional rights when they used a process called Investigative Genetic Genealogy, or IGG, to identify possible suspects.
In November, Kristi and Steve Goncalves, the parents of Kaylee Goncalves, said the details of the case show the death penalty is merited.
“You’ve got four victims, all in one house – that’s more than enough,” Steve Goncalves said.
Kristi Goncalves said she talked to the coroner and knows what happened to her daughter.
“If he did anything like he did to our daughter to the others, then he deserves to die,” she said.
Steve Goncalves told “48 Hours” last year that “there’s evidence to show that she awakened and tried to get out of that situation,” saying “she was trapped” based on the way the bed was set up.
