En route to Moscow this morning for another round of major hearings.Bryan Kohberger’s defense team will argue to dismiss his grand jury indictment. Hearings begin at 1 pm, we’ll keep you updated along every step of the way.
We’re in line, the first hearing at 9 am is running long.
Bryan Kohberger has entered the room, as has Judge John Judge.We are set to begin.
Judge John Judge apologized for the late start. He says the first hearing went long and was private because they were dealing with details of the grand jury.
Judge says some people have been independently recording portions of these hearings (on phones, laptops, etc.). A firm reminder. He says he's not going to ban cameras from the courtroom, but he needs to take more control.
Cameras are not to begin rolling until Judge declares they are ON the record. They are also ordered to stop recording once they're OFF the record.
Defense has taken to the stand for opening arguments.
Kohberger's attorney Jay Logsdon is trying to pick apart the precedent on what grand juries need for an indictment. He says the standard of proof should include more than just probable cause.
Logsdon believes the standard for an indictment should be elevated to "beyond a reasonable doubt." It's prompted an interesting back and forth between him and the judge.
Logsdon has stepped down. The prosecution is now at the stand.
Jeff Nye's argument lasted less than two minutes. He said that the rules surruonding what constitutes a fair indictment in the state of Idaho have already been established, and followed perfectly fine within this case.
Logsdon is back up, saying he's going to "fight" this precedent.Judge said that's fine, but arguing that in this court won't do any good. Judge said Logsdon is more than welcome to take that up with the Idaho Supreme court.
"I appreciate your argument, I mean it's interesting," Judge said with a chuckle.
Judge says it's a creative argument. He agrees that it's an important factor in determining what the law is, and why it exists as it is. But again, he says he's constrained but what he believes is "settled law in Idaho" and this is an issue he'd have to take up w/ higher court.
RECAP: Judge John Judge denied the Defense's motion to dismiss the grand jury indictment.
Court is adjourned, we're done for the day.
