MOSCOW, Idaho – It has been 576 days since four University of Idaho students were murdered in their Moscow home. The accused killer, Bryan Kohberger, has been in and out of the Latah County Courthouse for 17 months, and yet another delay in the case.
The hearing on a venue change has been postponed at least three times. We’re looking at potentially August for that hearing.
It’s got many people asking – ‘when is this trial going to happen?’
Kevin Curtis, a criminal defense attorney, says we’ve got at least another year or two before the case even heads to trial.
Curtis anticipates jury selection to take at least two to three weeks.
Then after that, the trial testimony could take at least four to six weeks.
Jury deliberation would follow and it’s up in the air at that point. But if there is a conviction, the mitigation aspect of the case would take at least a week or two.
Curtis says the way these proceedings are happening is unusual. He says typically in a death penalty case a trial date would’ve already been set, then all these motion hearings would come later.
Curtis says, typically, an average death penalty case would take around 40 months. We’re nearly to the halfway point of an average case and we still don’t have a trial date set.
Curtis says the duration of these cases can be frustrating for family members of the victims.
“Generally the belief is that the system is stacked in favor of protecting the defendant and there isn’t anybody protecting their rights. Really not the case from my perspective. Prosecutors are very cognizant, but again, like the judge, they don’t want to take any actions that are going to open up a potential appeal and flip the verdict, which would inflict more trauma on the families,” Curtis said.
As to where the trial will take place – that’s still up in the air. We should find that out in August if the hearing is not postponed again.
