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Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger's Trial Is Delayed After He Waives His Right To A Speedy Trial · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Brian
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Koberger had an appearance yesterday in front of Judge John Judge.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And during this appearance, Brian Koberger waived his right to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a speedy trial. And as we've been discussing here on
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  Speaker 1: the podcast for quite some time, that is certainly not
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  Speaker 1: a shock to me. I figured that this would be
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the case and that this trial would be delayed. There
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: is just way too much evidence and way too much
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: discovery to still go through for there not to be
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a delay of some sort. And I've always thought that
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  Speaker 1: that October 2nd date was very optimistic. Now, to be
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: fair to the judge, he didn't know at first that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a death penalty case. So he
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  Speaker 1: doesn't know that they're going to need all of that
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: time to prepare. And that's because once it becomes a
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  Speaker 1: capital punishment case, it gets knocked into a whole different tier.
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  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of other hoops and hurdles that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: have to be jumped through and jumped over by the prosecution.
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  Speaker 1: And when you're talking about the amount of evidence that
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about here, and then you add to that
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  Speaker 1: the stakes that we're talking about, and we had the
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  Speaker 1: perfect storm for this trial being delayed. And we've already
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  Speaker 1: heard from some of the family members of the Gonsalves family,
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  Speaker 1: and as you can imagine, they're not too happy about
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  Speaker 1: this trial being delayed. But unfortunately, it's just the way
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  Speaker 1: that these things break. And when you have a case
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  Speaker 1: of this magnitude, at least in my experience, you have
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  Speaker 1: to expect that there's going to be a delay in
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  Speaker 1: the proceedings. And what the state's trying to do is
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  Speaker 1: make sure that Brian Kohlberger, later on down the road,
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  Speaker 1: has no wiggle room during an appeal. So that's why
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  Speaker 1: the state and the court would acquiesce to a request
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  Speaker 1: such as this. Today's article is from the Idaho Statesman
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  Speaker 1: and the headline, Kohlberger murder trial delayed after Moscow suspect
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  Speaker 1: waives his right to a speedy trial. This article was
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  Speaker 1: authored by Kevin Fixler and Ben DeWitt. The capital murder
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  Speaker 1: trial of Brian Koberger, the suspect in the University of
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  Speaker 1: Idaho student homicides, was indefinitely postponed Wednesday after he waived
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  Speaker 1: his right to a speedy trial at a court hearing
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  Speaker 1: less than two months before its scheduled date. Ann Taylor,
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  Speaker 1: Koberger's lead public defender... told the court that one of
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  Speaker 1: the main factors that influenced the decision was inadequate time
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  Speaker 1: for proper legal counsel ahead of the planned October 2nd
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  Speaker 1: trial start. The defense wishes to reset the trial date
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  Speaker 1: just one time and not again after it's scheduled, she said.
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  Speaker 1: Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson called it a smart move.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't think he's wrong about that. It is
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  Speaker 1: a smart move for Brian Koberger. You need as much
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  Speaker 1: time as you can to prepare for something like this.
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  Speaker 1: And considering he can't even give us a basic alibi yet,
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  Speaker 1: I think he's going to have some trouble convincing a
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  Speaker 1: jury that his DNA is not on the sheath of
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  Speaker 1: that knife. He's going to have a hard time explaining
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  Speaker 1: all of that in open court. Judge John Judge of
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  Speaker 1: Idaho's 2nd Judicial District in Latah County acknowledged the significance
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  Speaker 1: of the closely watched case. Before finalizing the delay of
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  Speaker 1: the trial, Judge confirmed directly with Koberger several times that
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  Speaker 1: he understood the right he was giving up and that
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  Speaker 1: he wished to proceed. Absolutely, Koberger responded the final time. Well,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how long they have, the results at the
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  Speaker 1: end are going to be the same in my opinion.
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  Speaker 1: And those results are going to say that Brian Koberger
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  Speaker 1: is guilty of what happened here. And I don't care
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  Speaker 1: if we have a delay anymore. Until Saint-Gennard of the
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  Speaker 1: year 2027, the facts are going to remain what the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: facts are. And the facts are all pointing to Brian
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  Speaker 1: Koberger being guilty. So unless Ann Taylor has some kind
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  Speaker 1: of resurrection spell up her sleeve where she plans on
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  Speaker 1: bringing back Johnny Cochran, they're going to be in for
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  Speaker 1: a very, very long ride. Koberger, 28, is accused of
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  Speaker 1: fatally stabbing the four U of I students at an
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  Speaker 1: off-campus home on King Road in Moscow in November. The
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  Speaker 1: victims were seniors Madison Mogan and Kaylee Gonsalves, both 21,
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  Speaker 1: and juniors Anna Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20.
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  Speaker 1: In mid-May, a grand jury in Latah County, convened by
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  Speaker 1: the prosecution, indicted Kohlberger on four counts of first-degree murder
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  Speaker 1: and one count of felony burglary, which eliminated a scheduled
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  Speaker 1: preliminary hearing. Kohlberger was arraigned a week later and stood
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  Speaker 1: silent when asked for his plea to the charges, leading
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  Speaker 1: Judge to enter a plea of not guilty. Judge scheduled
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  Speaker 1: the trial to begin in October, and I said then
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  Speaker 1: that it's going to be delayed. There was just no
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  Speaker 1: doubt with the maximum amount of information that has to
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  Speaker 1: be shot back both ways during discovery here, that October
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  Speaker 1: was a legitimate date. There was just no way that
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  Speaker 1: they were going to be able to meet those terms.
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  Speaker 1: The significant development in the case on Wednesday comes just
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  Speaker 1: five days after an all-day hearing when Judge set a
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  Speaker 1: deadline of September 15th for Kohlberger to make such a decision.
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  Speaker 1: Under state law, criminal defendants must receive a trial date
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  Speaker 1: within six months of their arraignment if they don't waive
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  Speaker 1: the right. And up until that point, Koberger was adamant
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  Speaker 1: that he wasn't waiving his right to a speedy trial.
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  Speaker 1: Remember during the first stay when they got the 37 days?
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  Speaker 1: He said that it was a partial waiver and he
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  Speaker 1: wasn't waiving his right to a speedy trial. Well, that's
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  Speaker 1: all changed now and he's singing a completely different tune.
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  Speaker 1: Upon the court finally putting hard deadlines in place, the
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  Speaker 1: Gonsalves family suspected that the defendant would waive his right
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  Speaker 1: to a speedy trial, the Gonsalves family said in an
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  Speaker 1: emailed statement to the Idaho statesman through attorney Shannon Gray.
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  Speaker 1: This case carries enormous weight for the families and the community.
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  Speaker 1: And this additional time allows both sides to be fully
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  Speaker 1: prepared for the next trial date. And as much as
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  Speaker 1: it sucks for the family members, I think this is
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  Speaker 1: the right move to make for the long run and
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  Speaker 1: the overall trial itself. Because remember, this is a man
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  Speaker 1: who obviously doesn't have much to go on. So we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about technicalities and we're going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about loopholes throughout this whole entire thing. So the less
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  Speaker 1: amount of technicalities or loopholes that you can give them
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  Speaker 1: to grab onto, the better off you're going to be
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  Speaker 1: as the prosecution. And believe me, if my dumb ass
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  Speaker 1: is aware of this, you know that Bill Thompson is
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  Speaker 1: well aware of what strategy they're employing. Earlier on Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: before the hearing, the Gonsalves posted to their family Facebook
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  Speaker 1: page asking for prayers. We are afraid he is going
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  Speaker 1: to waive his right to a speedy trial, the post read.
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  Speaker 1: If he does, trial will not be starting on October 2nd,
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  Speaker 1: and it's very likely that it won't take place for years.
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  Speaker 1: We want to get this trial over. Just thinking it
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  Speaker 1: could be years absolutely kills me. Well, I don't think
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be years. In fact, I've said from
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  Speaker 1: the beginning that I think it'll happen next summer. the
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  Speaker 1: summer of 2024, and my guess is sometime around mid-June
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  Speaker 1: is when this will kick off. Now, of course, that's
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  Speaker 1: just speculation, but it would follow a pattern that we
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  Speaker 1: see with some of these other big trials that have
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  Speaker 1: popped up over the years. Taylor requested the Wednesday hearing
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  Speaker 1: last week, telling Judge she thought it would be quick,
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  Speaker 1: but asked that it be held in person rather than virtually.
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  Speaker 1: Koberger joined her in attendance, dressed in a white shirt
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  Speaker 1: and gray tie for the roughly 25-minute hearing. Boise-based criminal
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  Speaker 1: defense attorney Edwina L. Cox said the amount of evidence
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  Speaker 1: and complexities of the Koberger case, combined with its previously
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  Speaker 1: scheduled tight turnaround, made it virtually impossible for the trial
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  Speaker 1: to happen on time. It was absolutely the right move
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  Speaker 1: in a case like this, she said in a phone
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  Speaker 1: interview with the statesman. There's benefits to both sides. If
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  Speaker 1: the prosecution gets a conviction out of this, it insulates
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  Speaker 1: them against arguments of ineffective assistance of counsel because defense
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  Speaker 1: attorneys said they don't have the time to properly prepare
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  Speaker 1: for this trial. And this is what I was talking
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  Speaker 1: about when I said technicalities and loopholes. Elcox predicted the
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  Speaker 1: trial would take place sometime next year, estimating it could
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  Speaker 1: happen as soon as the spring. Taylor on Wednesday also
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  Speaker 1: said the defense planned to file motions in the coming
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  Speaker 1: days to take the death penalty off the table as
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  Speaker 1: a potential punishment for Kohlberger if he is convicted and
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  Speaker 1: concerning cameras in the courtroom. Prosecutors announced that they would
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  Speaker 1: seek the death penalty against Brian Kohlberger in June. And
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  Speaker 1: once it became a capital punishment case, this got launched
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  Speaker 1: into a whole different stratosphere, right? And we don't have
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  Speaker 1: to go back too far in the annals of history
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  Speaker 1: to see what happens if the prosecution steps out of
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  Speaker 1: line during a capital murder case in Idaho. Because the
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  Speaker 1: prosecution was a bit slow in the Lori Vallow case
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  Speaker 1: with some documentation, Judge Boyce ended up taking the death
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  Speaker 1: penalty off the table. So if the prosecution isn't on
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  Speaker 1: their shit, something like that is certainly possible. But so far,
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  Speaker 1: it looks like the prosecutors here have really been meticulous
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  Speaker 1: in the way they've went about this. Kohlberger, a former
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  Speaker 1: graduate student in the criminal justice and criminology department at
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  Speaker 1: Washington State University, was arrested in December while visiting his
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  Speaker 1: family in eastern Pennsylvania and on a break from school.
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  Speaker 1: The break in the case ended a nearly eight-week manhunt.
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  Speaker 1: Kohlberger was flown to Idaho on January 4th and made
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  Speaker 1: his first court appearance in the state on the charges
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  Speaker 1: the next day. Kohlberger has remained in custody at the
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  Speaker 1: Latah County Jail in the basement of the county courthouse,
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  Speaker 1: awaiting his trial for nearly eight months. The next scheduled
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  Speaker 1: court appearance for Kohlberger remains September 1st. when Judge will
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  Speaker 1: hear the defense's motion to dismiss the grand jury indictment
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  Speaker 1: based on arguments that the jurors did not receive proper
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  Speaker 1: instructions and that the indictment didn't meet the necessary legal threshold.
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  Speaker 1: A grand jury is a secretive process in which defendants,
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  Speaker 1: their defense, and the public are not allowed to attend.
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  Speaker 1: The prosecution filed its objection to the defense's motion to
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  Speaker 1: dismiss the indictment last week. The pretrial schedule may be
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  Speaker 1: updated on account of Koberger waiving his speedy trial right Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: Judges' eventual ruling on the defense's motion to dismiss the
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  Speaker 1: grand jury indictment will factor heavily into when the trial
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  Speaker 1: is scheduled. Taylor told the court Wednesday. Judge and Thompson agreed.
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  Speaker 1: So not exactly what I would call good news, but
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  Speaker 1: completely expected. And I had no doubt in my mind
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  Speaker 1: that we would not be kicking off a trial in
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  Speaker 1: October for Brian Koberger. And I think the article is
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  Speaker 1: spot on. Springtime, summertime, something like that is where we're
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  Speaker 1: going to see this trial take place. So like usual,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to keep our eye on things. And as
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  Speaker 1: this crazy story continues to evolve, we're going to be
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  Speaker 1: here every step of the way. All right, folks, that's
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  Speaker 1: going to do it for this one. All of the
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  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
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  Speaker 1: the description box.