The Idaho Supreme Court issued its decision Thursday on where the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger will be held, and also assigned a new judge to the case.

Kohberger’s trial, and all further proceedings, will be held at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise and presided over by 4th District Judge Steven Hippler, the justices said. The trial is set to take place next year, between June 2 and Aug. 29. It’s unclear whether the new changes will delay that further.

The Supreme Court also ordered that custody of Kohberger — a former Washington State University graduate student accused of killing four University of Idaho students — be transferred to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. Officials confirmed that Kohberger would be held in the county jail but declined to provide additional details on his transfer and detention.

Latah County will continue to pay for costs accrued throughout the trial, according to Idaho Code 19-1806 referenced by Nate Poppino, Idaho Supreme Court communications manager.

Ada County meets criteria set by judge

Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District in Latah County granted Kohberger’s request for a venue change last week, handing the defense a significant win in the legal process.

Judge’s main reasons for moving the trial out of Moscow and Latah County included the county’s small jury pool, too few law enforcement officers and court clerks, and a small courthouse.

Ada County checks all of those boxes. It is the state’s largest county by population (557,590), and that will offer significantly more potential jurors than Latah County’s population of 39,517. As necessitated by that population, Ada County also employs significantly more clerks and sheriff’s deputies, and has a much bigger courthouse.

The Ada County Courthouse already has proved to be a suitable site for high-profile trials such as those for Chad and Lori Daybell.

“The Trial Court Administrator and the Fourth Judicial District Court, in collaboration with multiple county departments and offices, do an outstanding job coordinating the vast logistical, security and media issues related to high profile cases in Ada County,” the Ada County Board of Commissioners said in an emailed statement to the Idaho Statesman. “We are confident they will do the same on this high-profile case as well.”

Sandra Barrios, the Fourth Judicial District Court trial court administrator in Ada County, said it was too soon to provide details about the trial, but she expressed confidence in the courthouse staff’s abilities.

“We are part of a unified judicial system, and are prepared and ready to do our part to help our sister courts,” Barrios said. “We have been through significant trials in the past (and are) confident that we can do so again.”

Judge did not make a recommendation on where the venue should be moved in his order — which also saw him step down from the case — but he did bring up Ada County multiple times.

“Some 67% of Latah County survey respondents reported believing Kohberger is guilty, with 51% of those indicating it would be hard for Kohberger to convince them of his innocence,” Judge wrote. “While similar percentages answered these questions the same in Ada County, the impact of these numbers when considering population size are drastically different.”

The University of Idaho killings

Kohberger, 29, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November 2022 stabbings of four U of I students at an off-campus home in Moscow. The victims were Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, both 20, and Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21.

Goncalves’ family previously criticized the change in venue decision, saying they were “incredibly disappointed.”

“The only good thing about this decision is it will be Judge Judge’s last decision in this case,” a statement from the family read. “The family has always felt that Judge Judge favored the defense and it was a common theme that whatever the defense wanted or needed they got.”

Kohberger stood silent when asked to enter a plea at his arraignment. As a result, Judge entered not guilty pleas to each of the charges on Kohberger’s behalf, as mandated by Idaho law.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted by a jury. His defense has filed a number of challenges to remove capital punishment as a possible sentence, and a court hearing on the issue was scheduled for Nov. 7 in Moscow.

Prosecutors objected to moving the trial, arguing that it was not “necessary or convenient,” which are elements that must be met under Idaho criminal rules. The defense said the level of pretrial publicity in the case — most of it prejudicial against Kohberger — meant he couldn’t get a fair trial in the community where the crimes took place. His attorneys specifically sought a move to Boise.

“The interest of justice requires that the trial be moved to a venue with the resources, both in terms of personnel and space, necessary to effectively and efficiently handle a trial of this magnitude and length,” Judge wrote in his decision granting the venue change.

Per Idaho’s criminal rules, Judge left the decision of the trial location to the Idaho Supreme Court. He also left it up to the five justices to assign a new judge after citing Idaho code that indicated his desire not to continue with the trial.

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