Idaho Murder Suspect Appears in Boise Court: 2025 Trial Dates May Shift

After weeks of waiting for Bryan Kohberger's hearing in Boise, Idaho--it has now ended.

Kohberger, the man arrested and accused of killing four Univeristy of Idaho students in November of 2022 is now in custody in Boise, Idaho. After being locked up in Latah County, just minutes from the scene of the horrendous crimes, a change of venue was granted to the case by Lata County Judge John C. Judge.

As expected, the Idaho Supreme Court reassigned the case to Ada County--Idaho's largest county--where the jury pool would be the largest. Intense and constant media coverage of the case has had Kohberger's defense team pleading for a larger jury pool to hopefully find jurors that can be fair and not totally influenced by the two years of aggressive coverage.

In what will be Kohberger's first of many appearances in Ada County, he was granted, for this one hearing, the right to wear 'street clothes' and not appear in a jail jumpsuit.

Also new to the case is Judge Steven Hippler. Shortly after being seated in the courtroom, Hippler stated:

'I'd like to tell you I'm happy to be here, but why start with an untruth?'

It's clear that he understands just how 'high-maintenance' this trial will be.

Judge Hippler also explained that the 'gag-orders' that have been in place are to remain in place and shared he has no tolerance for violations of those--by anyone.

Perhaps most interesting from the 30-minute hearing was the exploration of new trial dates. As it stood in Latah County, June 2nd was going to be when the trial was to begin. Now, under the oversight of Judge Hippler, he shared that he has concerns with holding the trial which could last up to three months, during the summer--noting that jurors may have vacation planned or children out of school.

Judge Hippler shared that he had in mind the beginning of May or the beginning of September. The State of Idaho's prosecution advocated for May and Kohberger's defense advocated for September.

Since the meeting between Judge Hippler and both parties following the public hearing was behind closed doors, we're now waiting to hear from the court of when the trial will be held.

We knew that the trial would be moved to one of these five locations