In Boise, Idaho, Idaho’s former U.S. attorney has joined the defence team in the case against Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022.
Court papers filed this week show that Joshua Hurwit will be a special deputy prosecuting attorney for the state in the murder trial that is set to start in August. Bill Thompson, who is the prosecuting attorney for Latah County, is in charge of the team.
From June 2022 to February 2023, Hurwit was the U.S. attorney for the District of Idaho. He was chosen by President Joe Biden. Hurwit became an assistant U.S. attorney in 2012 and started working there. He quit in February, well before the White House fired more than 50 U.S. lawyers and deputies.
Kohberger, 30, is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves. They were killed early in the morning on November 13, 2022, at a rental home close to their Moscow, Idaho, school.
The four people who were attacked were all probably asleep when they were killed. Some of them had cuts from fighting back, and all of them were stabbed more than once.
A few weeks later, Kohberger was caught in Pennsylvania. He was a graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University. Investigators said that they were able to match his DNA to genetic material found in a knife sheath at the crime scene.
Kohberger had already pleaded not guilty in front of a judge. If he is found guilty, the prosecutors have said they will ask for the death sentence.
On April 9, there will be a hearing to discuss pre-trial motions. These include arguments about whether Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder would keep him from being eligible for the death penalty if found guilty and whether jurors should hear audio of a 911 call made hours after the killings by people who thought one of their roommates wasn’t waking up.
Kohberger’s hearing will start on August 11 and will likely last for more than three months.
