MOSCOW, Idaho (NewsNation) — The man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in an off-campus home in November of 2022 is scheduled to be arraigned in court Monday.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection to the killings.
Prosecutors took the case against Kohberger before a grand jury instead of going through with an initially scheduled preliminary hearing. In criminal cases, both procedures can be used to determine whether or not the prosecution has sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against someone.
Criminal Trial Attorney Sara Azari and former CIA and FBI agent Tracy Walder will answer your questions on the latest in the Kohberger trial live Monday, May 22 at 3:30p/2:30C. You can watch live in this post and on NewsNation’s YouTube Page, or submit a question using the form below.
Kohberger, a graduate student studying criminal justice in Washington, was accused of stabbing four Idaho college students to death in November. Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found stabbed in an apartment near the University of Idaho. Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle lived in the apartment with two other roommates, while Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was staying over for the night.
It’s not clear why prosecutors opted for a grand jury in this case, but there are significant differences between a grand jury and a preliminary hearing. Most notable is that grand jury proceedings are secret and the defense does not get the opportunity to question witnesses or hear the case presented.
In the Idaho case, one of the two surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen, reportedly witnessed Kohberger in the house that night, without realizing anything had happened to her housemates, attributing noises she heard to partying. Both roommates have remained quiet about the case and it’s possible prosecutors used a grand jury to avoid having them face Kohberger ahead of a trial.
Kohberger’s team attempted to subpoena one roommate, Bethany Funke, for the preliminary hearing but her lawyers pushed back on the grounds that a preliminary hearing is meant to find probable cause to charge someone, not to serve as a mini-trial.
Using a grand jury also delayed prosecutors having to make their evidence public in the case against Kohberger. If the grand jury does find probable cause to indict, however, it’s likely more information will be made public during the discovery process, when prosecutors are obligated to turn evidence over to the defense team.
NewsNation writer Steph Whiteside contributed to this report.