Hearing could set rules for evidence and other details in Bryan Kohberger’s quadruple murder trial

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE Idaho AP Prosecutors and attorneys for a man charged in the killings of four University of Idaho students in will argue chosen of the final ground rules they want for Bryan Kohberger s trial in a two-day hearing set to begin Wednesday morning Kohberger is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin Xana Kernodle Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow Idaho Prosecutors say the four were killed in the early morning hours of Nov and their bodies were discovered later that day Kohberger then a criminal justice graduate scholar at Washington State University was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings Investigators stated they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath ascertained at the crime scene When inquired to enter a plea to the charges Kohberger stood silent prompting the judge to enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf Here s what to know about the episode and the motion hearing as his trial is set to begin this summer What will happen at the hearing Attorneys on both sides of the occurrence have filed hundreds of pages of legal motions including whether Kohberger should face the death penalty if he is convicted whether spectators should be allowed to testify about things like touch DNA and about who should be allowed in the courtroom during the trial The hearing will give the attorneys a chance to make their occurrence in person discussing the legal reasoning behind their requests It will also give th District Judge Steven Hippler a chance to ask the attorneys questions as he weighs their arguments What will the judge be deciding Numerous of the motions are focused on what evidence can be presented to jurors during the trial Related Articles Billionaire spacewalker highlights Mars trip for astronauts in his bid to become NASA s next chief Passover begins soon For countless Jews the celebrations will occur amid anxieties and divisions Delta had been expecting a record year Then a agreement war broke out Asian supermarket customers brace for price hikes as Trump tariffs take effect US stocks shake in twitchy trading as bonds show more stress following tariff escalations For instance defense attorneys have urged the judge to find that an autism spectrum disorder assessment would make Kohberger ineligible for the death penalty The defense and prosecution will also likely present arguments over whether jurors should hear audio of a call made by two women in the house roughly eight hours after the killings as they realized one of their roommates wasn t waking up Legal filings also show that prosecutors want to introduce evidence of Kohberger s click history at Amazon com showing that he purchased a Ka-Bar brand fixed-blade knife eight months before the killings A Ka-Bar knife sheath was ascertained next to one of the casualties Kohberger s attorneys have required the judge to exclude that online shopping history saying it could be taken out of context or not reflect the influence of algorithms that recommend purchases Prosecutors also want to introduce a photo that Kohberger took of himself hours after the time of the killings because they say it shows what he looked like at that time A roommate who was in the rental home reported police she woke up and saw a stranger with bushy eyebrows wearing a face mask inside the home Defense attorneys want the judge to bar any testimony about bushy eyebrows because they say it could prejudice the jury against him Other topics that could come up include what kinds of questions will be questioned during the jury selection process Attorneys on both sides have submitted proposed questionnaires that could be used to narrow the jury pool down to a small group of candidates but so far those documents have been sealed from masses view Will the judge issue rulings during the hearing Hippler can rule from the bench absolutely telling the attorneys what his decision is on each request but he can also decide to issue a written ruling sometime after the hearing is over Sometimes written rulings can be particularly helpful in complicated legal cases like this one because they can help attorneys hurriedly find and refer to the judge s decisions months or even years down the road When is the trial Jury selection in the event is expected to begin July with the trial starting Aug in the Ada County Courthouse in downtown Boise The trial is expected to take nearly three months to complete lasting into the start of November