The King Road Killings: An Idaho Murder Mystery · ABC News

Can Bryan Kohberger Get a Fair Trial in Moscow?

·38 min·2 clips

Survey responses reportedly included people saying they’d “kill him” or “burn the courthouse down.”

1. The King Road Killings episode focuses on Bryan Kohberger’s venue hearing in Moscow, Idaho, and the question of whether his trial should stay in Latah County. 2. Kena Whitworth hosts the report, ABC News legal contributors Matt Murphy and Brian Buckmeyer analyze the hearing, and park superintendent Dave Mahan matters because he describes the alibi location. 3. The episode asks whether a jury can be fair in a case that has saturated Moscow, Latah County, and the rest of Idaho with publicity. 4. The defense says pretrial coverage has prejudiced potential jurors in Latah County and asks for the trial to move to Boise or another county. 5. Prosecutors say media attention is intense statewide and argue that moving the venue will not solve the defense’s problem. 6. Brian Edelman testifies about surveys of 400 potential jurors across four Idaho counties and says Latah County shows a clear negative bias. 7. Edelman tells the court that people have been “talked about it” repeatedly and that “presumption of guilt prevails in this community.” 8. He also cites survey responses about what people would do if Kohberger were found not guilty, including reactions such as killing him or burning the courthouse down. 9. The defense argues that nearby counties like Nez Perce and Ada County show fewer people who have already prejudged Kohberger. 10. Prosecutors counter that changing venue would burden victims’ families and witnesses who may have to travel long distances. 11. Matt Murphy says venue changes are traditionally hard to win, but jurors who express bias would be removed for cause. 12. Brian Buckmeyer says high-profile juries often know less than expected and still want to “do the right thing” with the evidence. 13. Buckmeyer points to the Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell venue move to Ada County as a precedent the defense wants the judge to follow. 14. The hearing also shows the courtroom wrestling with social media, Reddit threads, and Facebook groups as part of the publicity problem. 15. Judge John Judge stops a live-streamed display of online groups and says, “I don’t think we need to advertise all these.” 16. Whitworth then visits Wawaii County Park, where the defense says Kohberger made solo nighttime drives, hiked, and looked at the moon and stars. 17. Dave Mahan says the park is remote, gets no cell service, has no sign-in book, and has no security camera footage to prove who was there. 18. Buckmeyer and Murphy discuss Kohberger’s alibi, the 2:47 a.m. cell-phone gap, and the difficulty of proving location in rural tower coverage. 19. The episode sounds like a courtroom-plus-field-report format with extended legal analysis, live hearing audio, and on-location reporting from Idaho and Washington. 20. Listeners who want true-crime procedure, jury-selection strategy, and venue fights will get the most from it, while people avoiding case-law discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A venue fight showing how pretrial publicity can shape a murder trial before it starts.

The episode tracks the venue fight in the Koberger case, with a hearing in Moscow, Idaho, and the defense pressing to move the trial out of Latah County while the prosecution argues the publicity problem reaches farther than the county line.

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If you want the venue fight over Brian Koberger's murder trial explained without spin or jargon, start here today.

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