Idaho Supreme Court declines to hear Bryan Kohberger request

MOSCOW, Idaho (KIFI) - The Idaho Supreme Court has declined to hear the request from Bryan Kohberger's lawyers to appeal the decision not to toss out the charges against him.

Lawyers for the accused killer of four Idaho college students had wanted the state's highest court to step in on a previous decision made by the judge overseeing his case, not to dismiss Kohberger's grand jury indictment.

In a new filing Tuesday, Idaho's Supreme Court has denied that request.

Prosecutors allege in the early-morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed four University of Idaho students to death: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

After a six-week hunt, police zeroed in on Kohberger as the suspect, arresting him at the end of last December at his family's home in Pennsylvania. He was indicted in May and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment, he declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty.

A trial date has not yet been set.