(NewsNation) — The judge overseeing the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger — the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022 as they slept — has declined to delay its start.
Defense attorneys had requested more time to prepare for the case, which has received a large amount of pretrial publicity, including leaks of information to media outlets.
Kohberger, a former graduate student in criminal justice, is facing murder charges in the deaths of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin. The four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death Nov. 13, 2022, in an off-campus house, shocking the small town of Moscow, Idaho, and setting off a search for a suspect.
Kohberger, who was a student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested a month later after investigators said they used genetic genealogy to identify him.
” … there is no assurance that the pretrial publicity will fade with time,” Judge Steven Hippler said in his written order Thursday. “The murders occurred over two and one-half years ago. The circumstances of the murders were provocative — four college students in a small Idaho college town were brutally stabbed to death by an unknown perpetrator. It was an immediate media sensation and garnered widespread attention that not only continues to persist, but continues to grow.”
With the judge’s order, the trial is set to begin in August with jury selection.
In a separate ruling, Hippler denied a defense request to present “alternate perpetrators” to jurors.
This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.