An Idaho judge on Thursday lifted the gag order that another judge imposed on convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger’s case.
Earlier this month, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all five charges for fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students at a rental home in 2022. The guilty plea removed the death penalty as a possibility.
Kohberger admitted to killing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin after breaking through the rental home’s sliding door near campus. He had no known connection to the victims.
Several news outlets, including the Associated Press, asked the judge overseeing the case to lift the gag order that prevented the dissemination of information about Kohberger’s case. A different Idaho judge, who issued the gag order in the case’s early stages, argued the publicity could harm the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
But as a result of Kohberger’s plea deal with prosecutors, the trial is no longer moving forward. It was previously set to start Aug. 18.
Judge Steven Hippler felt lifting the gag order was necessary to protect the First Amendment rights of the public and the press.
“The primary purpose of the non-dissemination order, which is to ensure that we can seat an impartial jury, is no longer at play,” Hippler said, adding the public’s right to receive information about the case is “paramount.”
The judge noted that not all court documents would be immediately unsealed after lifting the gag order. They are expected to be made public eventually upon the court’s review, he said.
Prosecutors initially didn’t want the gag order lifted until after Kohberger’s sentencing. They reversed course earlier this week.
Kohberger is set to be sentenced on July 23. He is expected to receive four consecutive life terms in prison without parole, one for each murdered student, in addition to another 10 years.
BRYAN KOHBERGER ACCEPTS PLEA DEAL IN MURDER OF FOUR IDAHO COLLEGE STUDENTS
Although Kohberger waived his right to appeal or to ask for a sentence reduction as part of the plea deal, Judge Hippler suggested the defendant still has the right to appeal under the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision, Garza v. Idaho.
“Now, I recognize the plea agreement includes a waiver of the right to appeal,” he said. “But as the parties probably know, the U.S. Supreme Court in Garza v. Idaho has indicated the fact that a defendant waives the right to appeal doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to appeal, and so it may affect the outcome of that appeal, and it may affect, the underlying case and the plea agreement.”