By Eric Levenson, Jean Casarez, Lauren del Valle and Rebekah Riess, CNN (CNN) — A judge overseeing the pretrial hearings for Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology grad student accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys...
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5/15/25
Hippler decided there will be eight alternates and told counsel he wants a pool of between 50 to 55 final jurors, from which
12 jurors and eight alternates – totaling 20 jurors – will be selected. Alternates will not be decided until deliberations, and a lottery will determine the alternates.
The trial is expected to be livestreamed after jury selection. Both sides discussed witnesses that may not want to appear on camera, including the surviving roommates.
Hippler responded by saying the roommates are victims of the burglary. He added there is a compelling interest to protect victims in the courtroom and that if victims request it, their faces won’t be shown.
However, he said, he would have to be convinced not to show the other witnesses on the livestream because of the public interest in the case. “The best way that we have to ensure the public is accepting of whatever verdict may be reached in this case is for the public to have the ability to see the evidence,” Hippler said.
The trial will run Monday through Friday, beginning at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 3:30 p.m. local time. If the jury becomes sequestered, Hippler said he is likely to extend those hours. He noted they may ultimately need to sequester jurors once the trial goes to deliberations.
Hippler ordered that seats be reserved inside the trial courtroom for the surviving roommates. “I don’t know whether they would have any desire to be here. I suspect not, given the way they’ve been treated in the media, but if they do that, they would have seats available,” he said. Seating will also reserved for family members of the victims and four Kohberger family members.
