Bryan Kohberger could escape death penalty because of leaked evidence aired during TV episode: fmr prosecutor
Idaho quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger might avoid the death penalty if convicted because of leaked evidence, a former prosecutor suggested.
Kohberger is accused of killing Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20. On May 9, a television episode featured leaked information relating to the case, which Kohberger's attorney has argued will taint the jury pool.
Included in NBC's "Dateline" special on the University of Idaho murders was surveillance video from a neighboring house, which caught a car similar to Kohberger's driving in the King Road area several times in the hours and minutes before the four college students were killed.
The episode also featured alleged evidence from a nearby FBI cellphone tower, which claimed to show that Kohberger's phone pinged nearly a dozen times near a tower providing coverage to an area within 100 feet of 1122 King Road, where the students were killed. The phone allegedly pinged near the tower on multiple occasions between July 2022 and mid-August 2022.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital that the leak has the potential to remove the death penalty as a punishment.
"The media leak could help Bryan Kohberger on appeal or potentially take the death penalty off the table. If the leak results in prejudicial pretrial publicity that taints the jury pool, especially if the leak was of inadmissible evidence, that's a constitutional violation," Rahmani said.
Rahmani brought up the Lori Vallow Daybell case, where the judge ruled that prosecutors couldn't seek the death penalty after they didn't comply with discovery rules. Vallow Daybell was found guilty after prosecutors alleged that she worked with Alex Cox, her brother, to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, to receive money from a $1 million life insurance policy.
"The other basis for appeal or to strike the death penalty would be prosecutorial misconduct or a violation of a judicial order. In a recent high-profile Idaho capital case, Lori Vallow Daybell, the court ruled that prosecutors could no longer seek the death penalty because they failed to comply with their discovery obligations," Rahmani said.
On May 15, Judge Steven Hippler said a violation of the gag order was "likely" committed by someone involved in the case. He ordered the prosecution and Kohberger's defense team to preserve all communications and data relating to the case, including law enforcement officers who worked on the case.
Hippler said the following pieces of evidence were revealed during the episode:
"Such violations not only undermine the rule of law, potentially by persons charged with upholding it, but also significantly impede the ability to seat an impartial jury and will likely substantially increase the cost to be borne by the taxpayers of Latah County to prosecute this case by extending the time it will take to seat a jury and potentially requiring lengthy period of juror sequestration," Hippler wrote.
Kohberger's lawyer, Anne Taylor, asked Hippler to delay the trial because the jury pool could be tainted by information aired during the "Dateline" episode, in addition to other reasons.
Prosecutors argued in a court filing that the airing of information relating to the case should not be a reason to delay August's trial start date.
"Like the court in the Vallow-Daybell trial, this Court is well-equipped to select a jury, to handle ongoing media coverage, and to conduct a fair trial in the Ada County courthouse," prosecutors wrote.
An amended scheduling order filed in Idaho's Fourth Judicial District Court on Thursday indicated that the trial will be pushed back one week. Jury selection will begin on Aug. 4, but opening statements are now expected on Aug. 18, one week later than the previously anticipated start date on Aug. 11.
A court spokesperson said the updated timeline was not the result of any attempt by the defense to delay the proceedings, but rather an internal scheduling adjustment by the court.
Fox News Digital reached out to Kohberger's lawyer, prosecutors and NBC for comment.
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