The murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students, will be moved out of Moscow — and likely with a different judge presiding.

Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District in Latah County granted Kohberger’s request for a venue change. In turn, he handed the defense a significant win in the legal process ahead of his murder trial scheduled to start in June 2025.

Judge’s ruling came about a week after an all-day hearing in Moscow for arguments over whether to move the trial. His Friday order, which referenced both practical challenges and an abundance of media coverage in the case — much of it “sensationalized and prejudicial to Kohberger” — published to a public courts website Monday morning.

“The interest of justice requires that the trial be moved to a venue with the resources, both in terms of personnel and space, necessary to effectively and efficiently handle a trial of this magnitude and length so that the parties and the court can focus on the case and not on peripheral issues,” Judge wrote.

Kohberger, 29, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. The victims were Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, both 20, and Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted by a jury. His defense last week filed a number of challenges to remove capital punishment as a possible sentence, and a court hearing on the issue is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 7 in Moscow.

Prosecutors objected to a venue change, arguing it was not “necessary or convenient,” which are elements that must be met to justify moving a trial, according to Idaho criminal rules. The defense, meanwhile, alleged the level of pretrial publicity in the case — most of it prejudicial against Kohberger — meant he couldn’t get a fair trial in the community where the crime took place.

Per Idaho’s criminal rules, Judge left the decision of the trial location — and the assigned judge — to the Idaho Supreme Court. The five-justice panel will issue a final order to answer those questions at a later date.

Judge indicated his desire not to continue on with the case, which all but guarantees a third judge will now be involved in the high-profile case. Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall handled Kohberger’s preliminary appearances before Judge, the county’s district judge, took over.

The Idaho Supreme Court is now left to assign it to a different judge once the justices choose a new venue, according to Idaho law.

Judge points to Latah county’s size and resources

Judge cited two main reasons for moving the trial: Latah County’s small jury pool and a lack of resources.

Experts called to testify “expressed great concern over the emotional experiences, feelings of fear, and personal connections of Latah County residents,” Judge said in his motion.

Latah County has only about 24,000 eligible jurors, according to the motion. Judge said it is “far more likely” that a potential juror in Latah County would know someone involved in the case, had experienced fear in their homes following the killings or discussed the case with others in the community.

“Some 67% of Latah County survey respondents reported believing Kohberger is guilty, with 51% of those indicating it would be hard for Kohberger to convince them of his innocence,” Judge wrote. “While similar percentage answered these questions the same in Ada County, the impact of these numbers when considering population size are drastically different.”

Keeping the identities of jurors private would also be more difficult in a small county, Judge said.

Setting aside jury pool issues, Judge pointed to another hurdle that neither the prosecution nor defense made much noise about: Latah County’s resources.

Even if Idaho State Police or Moscow police assisted, local law enforcement lacked the manpower necessary, Judge wrote, to ensure the safety of the defense, prosecution, witnesses, victims’ families, jurors and community for the three months anticipated for trial.

“The Latah County Sheriff’s Office, which is currently fully staffed, simply lacks the number of officers needed to provide security for the trial while also continuing to perform their day-to-day duties of patrol and responding to calls,” Judge said.

Other resource concerns listed by Judge included the lack of clerks and necessary venue space to ensure a safe, organized trial.

The parents of victim Kaylee Goncalves opposed the murder trial’s move out of Moscow. They told the Idaho Statesman after last month’s hearing that at least some of the other families joined them in their preference, though declined to identify which ones.

Following the venue change decision published Monday, the Goncalveses criticized Judge in a statement that the family’s attorney provided to the Statesman. They called themselves “incredibly disappointed” by his ruling.

“The only good thing about this decision is it will be Judge Judge’s last decision in this case,” the statement read. “The family has always felt that Judge Judge favored the defense and it was a common theme that whatever the defense wanted or needed they got.”

They questioned the purpose of many pretrial efforts, including the standing gag order — formally known as a nondissemination order — if the plan was not to maintain the trial in Moscow.

“What was the point of the nondissemination order, private hearings, closed-door tactics, allowing the defendant to be dressed in a suit for every televised hearing, etc., if not to keep the trial in Latah County?” the Goncalves family said in their statement. “As victims’ families, you are left to just watch like everyone else and really you have little rights or say in the process, and at the same time you are the most vested in the outcome.”

Judge says venue decision probably his ‘most difficult’

Kohberger’s defense team long held that an impartial jury could not be found in Latah County.

“The traumatized town of Moscow is understandably filled with deeply held prejudgment opinions of guilt,” Kohberger’s defense wrote in an August court filing. “Latah County mob mentality will never produce a (jury pool) that results in a cross section of the community.”

At the venue change hearing late last month, Judge called his choice over whether to move Kohberger’s trial “probably, professionally, the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make.”

“I know there are a lot of considerations, practical in terms of logistics, and prejudicial media. So I have, I have some work to do,” Judge told the court. “That’s going to take me a little bit of time, and go through the law again, including the rule itself and the interpretation of that. So I’ll do my best. It’s a challenge.”

How long the Idaho Supreme Court may take to issue its decision on the Kohberger trial venue change and judge assignment is unclear. In another recent high-profile Idaho murder case, the justices ruled on the Chad Daybell venue change after eight business days.

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