An Idaho judge has denied a request from about two dozen news organizations to lift a gag order in the case of a man accused of stabbing four students to death, according to documents filed with the court on Friday, RadarOnline has. com heard.
The butchered bodies of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on November 13, 2022 in a rental home near the University of Idaho campus.
Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University, has been charged in connection with the death.
The sick stares at the death penalty if found guilty. Kohberger continues to maintain his innocence. In January, Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall issued a major injunction in the case.
Earlier this year, 30 news organizations asked the Idaho Supreme Court to overturn the order because it violated First Amendment rights. However, the gag order has now been significantly curtailed in response to the organisations’ concerns.
The document, filed Friday, is “narrowly drafted to prohibit only out-of-court statements that have a ‘substantial likelihood of material harm’ to this case.”
The judge overseeing the case wrote that the revised order is intended to “protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial” and to “ensure an impartial jury.”
In a blow to the victims’ families, the judge denied a request from attorney Shanon Gray, who represents the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves, to be released from the revised warrant so he could speak to the press on behalf of the family.
The judge stressed that as a lawyer, Gray could have access to confidential information about the case that would be detrimental if it were made public.