Crime Weekly - S3 Ep240: Crime Weekly News: Judge Moves Bryan Kohberger Trial

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

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And I'm Stephanie Harlow. And we're going to be talking about someone who I think we've all heard of by this point, Brian Koberger. Not my favorite person to talk about. I know it's not Stephanie's favorite person to talk about either, but he's back in the news. And actually, as we were getting ready to record Crime Weekly News today, some news broke about him. And that's the fact that his trial, his judge in the trial, has officially ruled to move the entire trial scheduled for, I believe, June of 2025, to move it to a new location. And we're going to get into that in a second. But before we do, I just wanted to mention, because I also got an email today from one of you guys,

the CrimeCon crews. Some of you have gone over and tried to purchase tickets. It's sold out. Thank you everyone who got on the list. My recommendation after talking to CrimeCon today, a little inside information that they have not announced. Sign up for the waitlist. They are trying to get a whole new block of rooms because you're not the only ones who've tried to sign up. There's a long waitlist now enough to completely fill up another section of the boat. So if that section is available, they're going to open it up and anybody who's on the waitlist is going to get access first. That's all I want to mention about that. So back to Koberger, this is an interesting thing. And it's, it's some, it's a ruling that a lot of experts did not expect the judge to make because ultimately what the defense was saying

was, Hey, listen, the media here in this small town has been overwhelming. A lot of it's speculative. It's very biased against our client Koberger. There's no way we're going to be able to find a jury that's going to give him a fair shake. And, and the prosecution was basically saying, your honor, we can design the questionnaires for the jury to specifically target people who have already made up their minds or who have heard about this case. And we will do our best to vet those individuals to make sure that the jury we do select is starting from ground zero and is not coming in with some preconceived notion about Brian Koberger or this case.

So the judge says, listen, I hear both of you. I understand that there's good arguments on both sides, but I have a lot to consider here and I'll get back to you. So there was some time between that. There was some episodes that came out about it. People were talking about it, pundits in the news, and they all said kind of the same thing. They didn't expect him to come back and say, yeah, we're going to move this entire trial with potentially a new judge to a new location. What they did think was going to happen was that there would be a larger pool to select from. What do I mean by that? Well, instead of just choosing from individuals who were from that location, the judge could have decided to say, hey, we're going to

choose from a pool of people throughout the entire state. We're going to open it up to a bigger population so that you have more individuals to choose from and vet to try to find a jury that's going to be fair and impartial to both sides. They also didn't believe that he was going to come back and say, we're going to move it because yes, could it benefit Brian Koberger to maybe get a more impartial jury? Maybe personally, I don't agree with that. I think the media coverage has been national from New York to California. I don't think I, no matter where you go, people know this case, but the other hiccup here is think about the police officers in this case. Think about the victim's family members. Think about the witnesses, everybody who's from that area. Now they have to travel longer distances,

which will undoubtedly cost everyone more money and more of a burden for those individuals to show up at that, whatever facility, whatever courthouse the trial is ultimately held. So I was kind of in the same boat. I did not think that he would ultimately rule to move this trial. And yet here we are today, Stephanie. He shouldn't have, in my opinion. I agree. Because you, and we've seen this a bunch of times, Scott Peterson tried to do the same thing, right? Oh, he's not going to get a fair trial in, what was it, La Jolla? Yeah. He's not going to get a fair trial there because everybody, but it's like, yo, don't commit such an atrocious crime that's going to go nationwide. Because like, you know, like you just said, what happened to these

students was so atrocious, so shocking, so unexpected, like something you'd see in a movie. Of course, it's not just going to stay in Idaho. It's all over the place. There is not a state in this country and outside of the country where people don't know about this, really. So where are you going to go? And that's the same thing we said for Scott Peterson. Where are you going to go where people don't know that you're accused of murdering your pregnant wife while you are living a double life with Amber, your girlfriend? Everyone knows your face has been all over the place. Like Casey Anthony, your face has been all over the place.

The pictures of you dancing on the table and your blue dress have been all over the place. There is no place in this country you can go where people don't know who you are and what you are alleged to have done. So to Brian Koberger, I would say, I mean, maybe you shouldn't have committed this atrocious of a crime, allegedly, if you wanted to find an impartial jury, you know, slaughtering multiple young people, innocent young people who've done nothing and we're just trying to get their education and live their lives. And then expecting to find a pool of people anywhere who are going to look at that, I guess, in a, in an unbiased way. Good luck, my dude. Good luck. It was interesting what the, what the judge had to say. And I agree with you. I thought I've already said it. I thought it would stay there. I thought they would just open it up to a larger jury pool, which is what the judge, one of the things he directly addressed in his ruling. And this is what he said, quote, it is undisputed that there has

been significant media coverage in this case throughout the state and nationally. While some of the coverage has been neutral reporting of the court proceedings. Much of the coverage has been sensationalized and prejudicial to Koberger. He went on to state, and this is the important part in my opinion, that the courthouse that it's currently in, it's too small to accommodate the needs the lawyers would have and not enough clerks as well to oversee a selection of a jury from an expanded pool of about 6,000 residents. So basically, what he's saying logistically is we're a small courthouse. We're not used to handling cases like this. And if I were to expand the jury, which a lot of people thought he would do,

we simply just do not have the manpower to undertake that task. He also stated, which is something you have to consider, The county does not have enough sheriff deputies to ensure security in a small courthouse where the only way sensitive witnesses would be able to enter the courthouse was through the public hallways. It's not as simple as just bringing them in. You have to hire these people. You have to vet them. I get where he's coming from. It seems like excuses to me because what I think they're trying to do is appease Brian Koberger and his counsel so that later down the road, they can't be like, well, we tried to get a change of venue and you should have known that everybody, and they found him guilty and it was unanimous. So, you know, obviously, and then they have a basis for an appeal. And I think that that really,

honestly, they're just trying to completely avoid that. And they're using all of this other logistical stuff as excuses, because let's be honest, you could make it work. Now you have the victim's families, okay? These poor kids' parents who have to drive who knows how long to go and even witness this justice happen in real time. Just so Brian Koberger can be more comfortable, I'm not with it. I'm not happy with it. Yeah. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that's what the judge ruled. And now you do have a situation where you're, you're right, where he's hearing from the defense, where they're already claiming that their, their client has the right to a fair trial. And in their opinion, from what they're stating, he would not get that in that County. So to kind of prevent that from being the defense down the

road where they go, because nobody and multiple pundits have said this, the prosecutors, the defense, the, the judge, they do not want to have to retry this entire case later because something comes out from a jury member or a clerk that suggests he wasn't given a fair trial. And then they have to do the whole thing over again. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. The Supreme Court, the Idaho Supreme Court, will ultimately be in charge of assigning the new venue and whether or not there will be a new judge. I think there's going to be a new judge. You would think so. Yeah. I thought, I thought I read that there was going to be. They have to

decide that they haven't decided it yet. That'll be up to them. It's not up to the judge. The Supreme court, the Idaho Supreme court will decide. The judge who made this decision doesn't want to drive that far. Yeah. Right. He doesn't have, he might not have a choice. Maybe they punish him by saying, Hey, you know what? You want a new venue? You're still the judge overseeing it because you're doing such a great job. So we're going to keep you in charge of it. He's like, we're going to move it. I'm not going to be there, guys, but it's getting moved.

Get the hell out of here. No, I can see the Supreme Court coming back and saying, you know what? It's your bed. Now lay in it. I just don't see the reason for saying like, oh, yes, news coverage around here has been biased. At least like I live in, news coverage around here has been biased. At least like we, I live in New York, you live in Rhode Island. I guarantee you, we know as much about this case as somebody living right down the street from the house where it happened. So where are you going to go where you're going to find an impartial group of people? Zero places,

zero. But they'll have the staffing in the facility in order to vet a larger pool. That's the argument. I'm not saying I agree with it. I just, I hate giving these, I hate giving these assholes like what they're, what they want, you know, when they're just being like, you can tell they're buying time. You can tell they're just throwing everything at the wall. And we're going to talk about this after the break too. Something else that Brian Kober's counsel, you know, has a strong opinions on. Yeah. And would you want to, you want a little teaser here? Brian Koberger and his defense team do not believe in the death penalty. I think it's cruel and unusual. What do you guys think

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So it goes without saying, Brian Koberger has not been found guilty of a crime. He's been charged, but he's not been found guilty. So he is innocent until proven guilty. But if you want to know my opinion, that dude did it. Okay. Without a doubt. He wasn't out for a midnight stroll to look at the moon and stars. He wasn't. He was out killing multiple innocent young people, you know, young, his same age for, for absolutely what's the motive. We're not sure yet, right? But what we do know is that you took these lives, allegedly, in my opinion, and now your defense counsel thinks that taking a life is wrong and cruel and unusual. And I just, I don't understand this logic. But once

again, we talked about this before the break. They're going to try anything. If it delays things, if it just makes more paperwork, if it makes things harder on everybody, that is what Brian Koberger is going to do. He's not going to go out quietly. So Brian Koberger's defense attorneys say that Idaho has no viable method for killing in a capital punishment case. The state's method for obtaining a death penalty punishment is unconstitutional, and a capital murder case cannot be prepared in 10 months, and the death penalty violates the, quote,

prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Aw. Yeah. Executing Kohlberger by means of lethal injection or a gunshot, as conceived of by the Idaho Department of Corrections would violate his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and his right to due process under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Now, here's my issue here. You've already, according to this part, you're going to go

through the sentencing phase because you've already gone through the guilt phase and they found you guilty. So now you are found guilty of killing four people, but you don't think you should be killed because it's cruel and unusual. And not only that, but there's no good way to do it. I don't think that the way you killed your victims was good. And honestly, I've always been a big believer of this, that the punishment should match the crime, that however you enacted your torture and your murder on your victim is exactly the way that you should have it. So honestly, lethal injection would be a kindness to Brian Kohlberger considering what he dealt out to his victims. Yeah, they're really focusing on this whole firing squad thing. They argued that the death by firing squad, which is the second legal execution method recognized by Idaho after lethal injection, quote, is not and was never constitutional. They're basically saying

that, you know, we live in a modern civilized society and death by firing squad would be cruel and unusual considering our current standards. Yeah, I'm not comfortable with it. I'm not comfortable with it either, to be honest. Yeah, I stay in the middle here. We can voice our personal opinions. First off, you've said it already. If he's found guilty, the way they were killed is cruel and unusual.

And in my own mind, it's like, yeah, I'd love to see him killed the same way he killed them. But I do understand that we are a civilized society. And as you just said, yes, there are two options, but I don't think anybody's expecting that he will be killed by firing squad. They're just using it as an excuse. He will more than likely, if he's found guilty and sentenced to death, will be killed by lethal injection. And so they're going after something that's probably not even plausible, but I get it. They're doing their job. They're saying what they want to say. And just on the death penalty thing real quick, because we've talked about it a lot. We've talked

about it with Scott Peterson and I have, it's subjective, my whole methodology on deciding whether death penalty should be on the, in play or not. Someone like Scott Peterson, I've used him as an example, multiple times. I personally think he did Peterson, I've used him as an example multiple times. I personally think he did it. I believe you do as well. However, I am okay with acknowledging that that case is much weaker than this case. So in that situation, I have no problem with death penalty being off the table when it comes to Scott Peterson, because for the reasons I just mentioned, but with Brian Koberger, if what I've seen and what I've heard as far as the facts and circumstances surrounding this case and how inculpatory the evidence is, then if anyone would be justified in getting this

type of sentence, as far as death penalty, it would be Brian Koberger. But that's a different story for a different day. Either way, I do find it ironic that it's believed by many that this man murdered these individuals in a horrific way. And the fact that he's arguing that gun firing squad would be, would be cruel and unusual. Oh, it's so it's like, I feel like we're being trolled sometimes when things like this happen, you know, I'm like, where's the hidden cameras? Where's Ashton Kutcher? He's about to jump out and tell me I'm punked. When these people literally open their mouths and say stuff like this, it's like, do you believe yourself? Are you taking yourself seriously? This is gross. And listen, like,

does the idea of lining somebody up in front of a firing squad appeal to me? Of course not. Does the idea of finding Brian Koberger guilty of these murders and then lining him up in front of a firing squad appeal to me? Kind of. I'm going to be honest. Kind of. Okay. There are like, yes, we live in a modern civilized society. Okay. Well, do we though? Because what you did is not civilized. So you cannot go out in the world and act like an absolute feral animal. And then when you get caught, expect what? Grace, consideration, civilized society actions. Get the hell out of here, dude. And on top of that, and I don't want like this is this is a very gray area situation.

And I'm not trying to say any murders justified. Right. But you can see some murders and you can sort of see why it happened. It doesn't justify it, but you see why there was money or anger, infidelity, things like that. And you're like, I understand why this happened. I don't think it's right, but I understand why they did it with Brian Koberger. He didn't really know these people at all. And it seems like based on what we have read and heard that he just wanted to kill somebody. And this is what he

decided to do. He's a psychopath. Okay. He is not somebody that is safe to ever be out in a civilized society, much less take advantage of the benefits of one. So honestly, yeah, get that firing squad set up. I don't, I'm really like, I, I would be down for it at this point. The parents of these students will not mind watching. Yeah. Yeah. Or, or being part of it, but that's, you know, Oh, being part of it. Right. Imagine, I will say this prosecutors wanted to respond to this as you would expect. And they have argued that, quote, a jury is entitled to not only decide guilt, but also potential penalty. They went on to say that we are simply trying to fulfill our responsibilities under the law to characterize it

as the state is trying to, is wanting to, or is trying to kill someone is just simply appealing to raw emotion. And it has no place in this courtroom. It appealed to my raw emotion. And I honestly think that this was a stupid move for them because I'm, I'm pretty sure that most people are feeling the way we're feeling, like the audacity of you, the audacity of you. I understand you want a fair trial. You want to, you know, you see what you can get away with. Okay. Um, but the fact that you're going to come out with a straight face and be like killing someone is cruel and unusual. Like you take it.

So yes, raw emotion is here. It's anger. It's disbelief. And it's like the audacity. So it is a courtroom, but there's still, there's still human beings running the courtroom. And I, I mean, I want you guys to weigh in down below because stepping back, not as a detective, I kind of look at this as if I'm reading between the lines where they're saying, we think our client's innocent. However, if you're

able to prove that he's not, we just think that he should be in prison for the rest of his life. So we're hedging our bets where we're so confident that after we put on our defense, he's going to be found innocent. But if we're wrong and you guys get us can we at least leave him alive kill him that's that's the way i'm taking it and that's not looking at it as a professional you took multiple lives but nobody can go near your like get the hell out of here i'm so i'm so disgusted the audacity of this man a lot of you have emailed us asking for updates and coberger it's not that we're ignoring, but we're waiting for the big updates or multiple updates to kind of compile it. We don't want to make this Crime Weekly News slash Coburger because we could do an episode on him every week. There's

always an update. Seriously, there's always something they're coming up with. There is. There's always something. So I think the last time we covered it, it was when the house was knocked down and how we felt about that. So we will keep you guys updated. Any cases that we've covered that there's a major update in, we're not going to leave you hanging. We're looking at the news every single day, just like you. Stephanie has said it before. She has Google updates ready to go if something comes, alerts. Thank you. And so we're keeping an eye on it. And if there's a major update or a compilation of multiple updates, we'll definitely hit you here on Crime Weekly News. Stephanie, any final words? No, no final words. Thanks, everybody. Oh, I did want to

say, if you guys have an idea or if you do want us to cover something for Crime Weekly News, something that's emerging, something that's happening, you want an update on something, make sure you email us and let us know. I would even say way down below because we can see how many times you like it. So when someone comments on the YouTube video, I'm looking to see how many people are liking it. We just did a poll on the case we're covering this week, Gypsy Rose. It's basically you guys. That's the reason we're going that direction. After the feedback from the Crime Weekly News segment regarding Gypsy Rose, we realized that there's a lot of dissension and debate over whether DD's mom even did what she's being accused of. So we really wanted to dive into it after hearing from you guys, and that's why we're covering it. So I would say you could email

us. It'll get added to the Excel sheet. But even better yet, if you put a case in the comments section and it's getting hundreds of likes, it doesn't take a detective to figure out a lot of people want to hear about it. And we make note of that and we can move it up the list. So, but absolutely put it in the comments below. And if you see someone writing about a case that you already think you want to see covered, instead of just making a new comment, like that one or comment under that comment so we can see how many people are really interested in that case. But yes, please do. We want to cover cases that you guys want to hear about. So with that, we will be back later this week with part one of Gypsy Rose. And I

have to tell you, I saw Stephanie and talking to her this week. She's, she went deep. She went deep on this one. I, she started giving, she does this sometimes to me where before we record, I try to come in cold Turkey. She starts talking on the phone and I'm like, all right, Stephanie, stop. Cause you're giving it all away. And we got some good stuff here. We have a guest coming in on this one. She's pulling out all the stops. I really think you're going to be intrigued by the direction we're going with, with this one. It reminds me a lot of the Adnan Syed case. So we're going to try to see if we can do it. I know it's high expectations there, but stick around. Join us Friday for audio video on Sunday on YouTube. Until then,

everyone stay safe out there. We'll see you soon.