Global Courant 2023-04-25 18:16:26
The Idaho Supreme Court has rejected a media coalition’s appeal against the Bryan Kohberger gag order, ruling it should have been filed in a lower court.
Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in an early morning ambush in November. The case attracted national attention and lawyers on both sides supported the magistrate’s order to limit comment.
“Plaintiffs have forgotten that we are ‘the court of last resort in Idaho’ – not the court of first resort,” reads the 5-0 decision, written by Judge Gregory Moeller.
The court agreed that The Associated Press and other media organizations had standing, but found they “did not meet the conditions to invoke their original jurisdiction,” according to a summary of the order.
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Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall speaks at a January 2023 hearing for Bryan Kohberger, Bet, the suspect in the stabbing of four students near the University of Idaho. (Kai Eiselein/Pool)
According to documents released Monday, the group should have sought help from the magistrate court that issued the gag order and only escalated their case on appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruling relates to an appeal other than the one filed by an attorney for the family of Idaho victim Kaylee Goncalves, who asked Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall to revoke or amend her order.
Goncalves, 21, was found stabbed to death on November 13 on the third floor of an off-campus rental near the University of Idaho campus, next to her best friend and roommate, Madison Mogen.
Another roommate, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her visiting friend, Ethan Chapin, also 20, were murdered on the second floor.
The victims of the University of Idaho massacre on November 13, from left to right: Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen. (Instagram @xanakernodle | @maddiemogen | @kayleegoncalves)
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Two other housemates survived, including one who heard a commotion and told police she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” after the attack.
Read the decision (Mobile users go here)
The intruder, according to police, 28-year-old Kohberger, a Ph.D. in criminology. student at neighboring Washington State University, according to the witness, exited through a rear sliding door onto the second floor.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
Defense investigators in Nevada court filings have alleged that the other surviving roommate, who was on the ground floor, has “exculpatory” information that could exonerate the defendant.
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Her attorney has questioned the legitimacy of that claim and has asked a Nevada judge to quash a subpoena in Idaho demanding her testimony at Kohberger’s scheduled preliminary hearing in June.
Judge Marshall previously said she would not consider the appeal of Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray until after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled on The Associated Press’s appeal.
Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @mikerreports
