A heated debate on Thursday filled the Idaho courtroom where Bryan Kohberger will stand trial for the 2022 murder of four University of Idaho students, as state prosecutors accused his legal team of attempting to sway public opinion by surveying potential jurors for the case. Kohberger’s lawyers are paying a survey firm to phone about 400 locals as they try to gather evidence he can’t have a fair trial in the town where the murders occurred, with the ultimate goal of moving the trial to another district. But state attorneys argued Kohberger’s team risks prejudicing the local juror pool with the kinds of questions they asked. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson told the court that the survey’s questions were an “affirmative representation of a fact” that could “taint” a listener’s view of the case. Kohberger’s attorney responded that surveys are typical and the judge would violate the defendant’s due process rights if he ordered it to stop—an accusation the judge roundly rejected. He delayed a ruling until Wednesday, after a second hearing on the matter.
