Bryan Kohberger's attorney is seeking to get more information on potential jurors in the Idaho murders trial this week.
On Tuesday, Kohberger's attorney, Anne Taylor, filed a motion criticizing the prosecution and an order by a judge barring both sides in the case from communicating with potential jurors in the quadruple homicide case.
"On March 22, 2024, late on a Friday afternoon the State filed its Motion to Prevent Contact with Potential Jurors. The motion included attachments. The late Friday afternoon filing was a strategic action by the state," Taylor wrote in the filing.
Taylor went on to note that her team said they had been conducting surveys of possible jurors and had notified the prosecution of this.
"On March 21, 2024 counsel for the State and Defense met. The Defense provided a Curriculum Vitae for its expert and discussed the survey and its content. The Defense informed the State surveys such as these were common practice. The State could have easily, and likely did, find that this very expert did similar survey work in Idaho on at least two other occasions," the motion said.
The filling by Taylor comes shortly after the judge overseeing the case, Judge John Judge, issued an order barring both the prosecution and defense from communicating with any possible jurors, following a motion by the state requesting such.
"On March 22, 2024, the State filed sealed Motion for Order Prohibiting Further Contact with Prospective Jurors Absent Leave of Court," the order said. "Both parties are prohibited from contacting potential jurors about this case, including via third parties, until further order of this Court."
Kohberger, 29, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in connection with the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four University of Idaho students were found dead in their off-campus home on November 13, 2022.
Kohberger, who was arrested in December 2022, has maintained his innocence in the case, previously standing silent during his arraignment, allowing the judge to enter not guilty pleas for each charge against him.
Last month, prosecutors and Kohberger's defense failed to reach an agreement on a start date for a trial. The lack of a trial date prompted criticism from the families of Goncalves and Kernodle, who said "We want communication, we want efficiency in prosecution, we want a court that will make timely decisions and we want a fair trial."
Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and former elected state attorney, told Newsweek on Thursday that "While it is not unusual in high profile cases for the parties to use surveys to gauge views of various case-related issues––including familiarity with the case or the defendant––it is unusual to have a court issue a prohibition of such measures quickly after a flurry of sealed filings."
McAuliffe noted that it's possible that the state "argued the defendant's surveys have resulted in tainting the jury pool."
"Notably, the judge issued the order, subject to a hearing about the issue, so the judge was trying to halt whatever was happening until the parties could more formally present their arguments about such contact," McAuliffe told Newsweek.
Newsweek reached out to Taylor's office via email for comment.
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