Written by: Mario Miguel.
The Latah County District Judge entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November. The plea came as a result of the suspect standing silent.
On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Bryan Kohberger on one count of burglary and four counts of first-degree murder in the killings of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
According to East Idaho News, when asked by Judge John Judge what plea he would enter, Kohberger refused to enter a plea with his attorney saying they would be “standing silent.”
Judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf and set his trial date for Oct. 2, according to NBC news.
Police arrested Kohberger on Dec. 30, 2022 at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania after they say DNA evidence left on a knife sheath, cellular GPS data and surveillance video put him at the scene of the crime.
USA Today reported that the 28-year-old suspect was a graduate student studying criminology at the University of Washington, approximately nine miles away from Moscow, the location of U of I.
Prosecutors have 60 days to declare their intent to seek the death penalty.
A judge issued a non-dissemination order in January that has been opposed by a coalition of news organizations and the Goncalves family. After the Idaho Supreme Court declined to take the case, the coalition refiled in Latah County District Court.