30 news groups ask Idaho court to reject gag order in 4 killings
BOISE, Idaho — Thirty news organizations have asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn a gag order in a case against a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death.
The challenge, filed Monday evening, comes just a few days after an attorney representing the family of one of the victims filed an opposition to the gag order in state court, saying it is overly broad and places an undue burden on the families.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths in Moscow, Idaho. Prosecutors have yet to reveal if they intend to seek the death penalty.
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on Nov. 13 at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The slayings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Mr. Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.
The case garnered widespread publicity, and in January Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall issued the sweeping gag order, barring attorneys, law enforcement agencies and others associated with the case from talking or writing about it.
The coalition of news organizations contends the gag order violates the right to free speech by prohibiting it from happening in the first place.
“Justice cannot survive behind walls of silence. For that reason, ‘a responsible press has always been regarded as the handmaiden of effective judicial administration, especially in the criminal field,’ ” coalition attorney Wendy Olson wrote in the court filing, quoting historic court rulings about prior restraints on free speech.
In the gag order, Judge Marshall said the speech restriction was needed to protect Mr. Kohberger’s right to a fair trial.
“More speech does not mean a less fair trial; the speech at issue must be the kind that could prejudice a jury. And even when publicity may cause prejudice, the answer is not always to suppress the speech,” Ms. Olson wrote. “Other remedies like the passing of time, a change in venue, voir dire, jury instructions, and jury sequestration can cleanse any jury taint without offending the right to speech.”
Despite the great public interest in the case, there have not been any notable leaks of information that would prejudice Mr. Kohberger’s right to a fair trial, Ms. Olson said.
The news organizations in the coalition would have published additional information about the slayings if the gag order wasn’t in place, she wrote. Police in Pennsylvania told one reporter they can’t say whether they are reviewing unsolved cases that could be linked to Mr. Kohberger because of the gag order, and the mayor of Moscow told another reporter he can’t talk about overall community