Prosecutors in the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall in their off-campus rental, responded positively this week to the defense motion to bar cameras from the court room.
But rather than a 7-page motion complaining that amateur criminologists focused on the 28-year-old suspect’s crotch, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said that he was more concerned with the “chilling effect” intrusive cameras could have on “young and vulnerable” witnesses and the possibility that jurors could see evidence not put before them in the course of overwhelming media coverage.
“The State fully understands the enormous value that responsible media has in helping the public to understand the true facts of what occurs in court,” the prosecutor wrote. “The State believes, however, that those ends can be accomplished without the need for camera/video images, or the physical presence of cameras in the courtroom.”
Thompson wrote that he is “concerned that allowing the presence of cameras in the courtroom will have a substantial chilling effect on the ability of witnesses to openly, fully and candidly testify about some horrible occurrences.”
He cited Judge Steven Boyce’s ruling barring cameras during the trial of Lori Vallow Daybell, also in Idaho, saying that his ruling “provides a thorough examination of the issues before the court.”
“The State respectfully submits that the appropriate course of action would be for the court to prohibit cameras in the courtroom, both still and video, at a minimum during trial and during any other court proceedings at which victims such as described above might be called to testify,” Thompson concluded.
Prosecutors also provided an exhibit in response to the defense’s latest request for discovery, but that exhibit was filed under seal until a hearing on the issue.
The next hearing in the Kohberger case is scheduled for Wednesday.
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[Featured image: Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow., Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (August Frank/The Lewiston Tribune via AP, Pool)]
