Bryan Kohberger trial live: Judge halts Idaho hearing after defense shows case’s mass exposure on social media

Amani El-Alayli, a social psychology professor at Eastern Washington University, told the court that finding potential jurors in Latah County who had not been tainted by media coverage would be virtually impossible.

“I think it would be so hard to be a member of that community and be able to come in and be objective – arguably impossible. We don’t have a known method for undoing things,” she said.

The defense witness also said that people in small communities are more likely to be influenced by statements from people in authority, referring to when the police chief publicly stated that he was certain they had captured Kohberger.

When court returned from lunch break, there was a 10-minute portion that was not livestreamed.

During this time, the defense expert was allowed to show the social media posts that prompted the judge to pause the hearing before lunch.

Edelman claimed the posts show bias and conspiracies, including a clip of Nancy Grace, as he argued his point that selecting from a jury pool in Moscow would not give Kohberger a fair trial.

Judge John Judge abruptly halted the hearing after expert witness for the defense Brian Edelman showed social media posts in court.

Edelman is the co-founder of California-based jury consultancy Trial Innovations, who was hired to conduct a survey of prospective jurors in Latah County.

During his presentation, Edelman showed a screen recording of him scrolling through the Facebook post results that appeared when he searched “Moscow murders.”

Kohberger’s hearing has resumed its afternoon session.

Watch live on Judge John Judge’s YouTube page:

The county’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved boosting Latah County District Court’s  trial expense budget to $150,000 for fiscal year 2025 -- more than 40 times their 2024 budget of $3,500, according to ABC News.

Officials have said the county requires a cash infusion because the high-profile trial will cost taxpayers a lot of money.

Court is on lunch break until 1:30pm local time/4:30pm EST.

When court resumes, the livestream will start up 10 minutes later due to a portion of the proceedings that Judge Judge says will not be for the public.

Prosecutors say moving Bryan Kohberger’s June trial to Ada County would be expensive and that it would be disruptive for the victims’ families.

They also argued that just because there has been extensive coverage of the murders doesn’t mean an unbiased jury can’t be seated in Latah County.

In Murphy’s testimony, he displayed graphs and charts that showed how often people in both Latah County and Ada County would have been exposed to media coverage of Kohberger’s case.

As expected, Latah County, where the murders took place, has had more coverage of the case.

The county’s coverage has been steady while it has declined elsewhere.

Court is back in session after a mid-morning break.

The defense calls its second witness to testify – a professor by the name of Dr. El-Alayli.

Court is on break until 10:20am local time/1:20 EST.

Defense will present a new witness upon return.