Brian Kohberger’s attorneys are asking the Idaho Supreme Court to keep a gag order against 30 news organizations — accusing the media of “twisted” coverage of the case.
Kohberger, 28, a criminal justice doctoral student, has been charged with the November 13 stabbing to death of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Zanna Kernodle, 20.
Kohberger’s team said in a court filing in response to a challenge raised by news outlets that they should have first asked the magistrate judge who issued the gag order to reverse it.
“What the media really wants here is a procedural victory, knowing full well that it cannot win on the merits of any examination, given the pervasive and bizarrely twisted nature of the media coverage that has taken place so far.” ,” Jay Weston Logsdon, the public defender’s office with Kootenai County, wrote in the court document.
Logsdon did not mention any examples of alleged “twisted” media coverage.
Prosecutors have not yet revealed whether they intend to seek the death penalty for Kohberger.
Here’s the latest coverage on the brutal murders of four college friends:
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Zana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on November 13, 2022, in a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University, just across the state border.
In January, Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall issued a sweeping gag order barring attorneys, law enforcement agencies and others involved with the case from speaking or writing about it.
A coalition of news organizations, including The Associated Press, opposes the gag order. violates the right to free speech By preventing it from happening in the first place.
