The murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, is set to begin on June 2, 2025.
During a hearing on Thursday, Latah County Judge John Judge said the trial is expected to last three months, including two weeks to set the jury, eight weeks of trial and two weeks for mitigation and sentencing, if necessary.
Prosecutors have announced their intent to seek the death penalty against Kohberger.
Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023. KXLY in Spokane reports capital cases in Idaho typically take 20.5 months to reach conclusion, compared to 13.5 months for non-capital cases, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The court also set other deadlines during the hearing. A final pre-trial conference will be held on April 5, 2025 and any motions challenging the death penalty should be filed on or before September 5, 2024.
A hearing on those motions will be held on November 7. Motions to suppress evidence are to be filed no later than November 14 and a hearing on those will be held on February 6, 2025 and continue into the next day, if needed.
The state’s discovery deadline is September 6 and the defense’s deadline is January 9.
A list of experts the state intends to call at trial is due on December 4 and the list of experts the defense intends to call is due on January 9.
Kohberger’s public defender, Anne Taylor, said during the hearing she does plan on filing a motion to move the trial out of Latah County.
The entire hearing lasted around 15 minutes, the shortest hearing in the case so far.
