What to expect at Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger

Bryan Kohberger appeared calm as he appeared in an Idaho court Thursday for the second time and agreed to push his preliminary hearing to June 26 — a move meant to give his defense team more time to prepare.

At that next court appearance, the state will present some of its evidence against 28-year-old Kohberger to show there is probable cause for his case in the murders of four University of Idaho students to go to trial.

“A good prosecutor at a preliminary hearing wants to put on one witness, if that’s possible, one investigator, and give up as little as possible,” said CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman.

Klieman also said Kohberger’s hearing will give the defense an opportunity to cross-examine the state’s witnesses, and try to poke holes in their case early on.

“The defense wants to show that the prosecution has not done its job, meaning its investigators ‘likely’ — is the defense theory — zeroed in on Bryan Kohberger and stopped looking at anybody else, and that the factors they had were coincidental,” she said.

Klieman also noted that if there are any discrepancies between what a witness says during the preliminary hearing and a trial, that witness could easily be impeached later on.

Kohberger, who has not entered a plea, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the stabbing deaths of students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at the women’s home near the University of Idaho campus in November. 

An attorney for the family of Kaylee Goncalves said they just want to move forward and get a conviction in the case.

“This is gonna be a long journey in the criminal justice system,” said the attorney, Shanon Gray. 

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• University of Idaho
• Bryan Kohberger