Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of killing four University of Idaho students last fall, appeared in Latah County court this week in an attempt to get his indictment dismissed.
When he entered the courtroom, Kohberger, wearing a suit and tie, smiled at his attorney Jay Logsdon before taking a seat next to his other attorney, Anne Taylor.
Kohberger was indicted by a secret grand jury in May.
“The secrecy aspect of the grand jury is both its most powerful sword and its worst aspect,” said Logsdon, arguing grand juries are likely to always indict suspects of crimes they are accused of. Logsdon also said certain statutes are in place to constrain what grand juries can do in order to protect suspects.
Logsdon took issue with using, “beyond a reasonable doubt” as a standard to indict a suspect.
In July, Kohberger’s defense filed amotion to dismiss the grand jury indictment, arguing the jurors had not received proper instructions.
“I’m not sure it’s fair to say they were given the wrong instructions if everybody’s using that instruction throughout the state,” said Latah County Magistrate Judge John C. Judge.
After hearing nearly an hour of arguments from Kohberger’s defense team, Judge Judge ruled the indictment will stand.
“I am constrained by what I believe is settled law in Idaho,” said Judge.
A trial date has not been set.
This story was written by Lauren Paterson of Northwest Public Broadcasting.