The University of Idaho plans to begin demolition today of the off-campus rental home where four college students were killed in a stabbing home invasion last year.
The house at 1122 King Road is a grim reminder of the murders, now boarded up, fenced and guarded 24 hours a day.
Some critics of the decision, including several relatives of the victims, want the house to remain standing until the alleged killer, Bryan Kohberger, goes to trial.
But keeping the house standing could prove a “logistical nightmare” that won’t affect jurors in the long run, one expert said.
Other high-profile murder cases have involved jury visits to the crime scene with mixed results.
OJ Simpson was acquitted of murder charges at his trial in the early 1990s for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Critics of the decision and several relatives of the victims want the house to remain standing until alleged killer Bryan Kohberger goes to trial. Pablo Martinka
Jurors convicted Alex Murdaugh in the shooting deaths of his wife and son after visiting the family’s Moselle estate earlier this year, where prosecutors said the disgraced South Carolina lawyer shot them to death nearby. from the kennel.
The Simpson case was unique, said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense attorney who has been following the Idaho case, because it was highly publicized and because the defense was able to pepper the house with family photographs in an effort to make the defendant look better before the juries.
He said that in a shooting case, if there was a dispute over distances or angles, a firsthand look could help jurors.
The house where four University of Idaho students in Moscow were murdered remains boarded up and fenced. Kai Eiselein
Otherwise, he told Fox News Digital, it’s a logistical “nightmare.” Jurors, alternates, the judge, attorneys, law enforcement, and other courtroom personnel must be transported and kept safe, fed, and accommodated for bathroom breaks. He doesn’t think it’s always helpful for jurors to understand the case.
“No one wants to do it,” he said. “To say it’s weird: it’s a unicorn.”
After serving as a prosecutor and defense attorney, he said he has only tried one case in which jurors were brought to the scene.
The four University of Idaho students stabbed to death were Kaylee Goncalves, above left; Xana Kernodle, top right; Ethan Chapin, bottom left; and Madison Mogen, bottom right. ZUMAPRESS.com
Successfully prosecuted an arson suspect accused of setting fire to a home with victims inside. It was the defense who insisted on going to the scene.
“I don’t think I did anything,” he said. “I think it was theatricality. “I think it was the defense attorneys who were looking for straws.”
Jurors, during their deliberations, did not ask any questions about the scene, he said.
“Usually when it goes to trial it’s at least a year after the accusation occurred,” he said. “By then the scene will be finished. “You won’t have yellow tape everywhere, you won’t have blood stains, and you won’t see anything.”
Other experts have told Fox News Digital that the university’s attempt to demolish the building is a decision that prioritizes the school’s goal of “moving forward” over the potential impact that a firsthand look at the crime scene could have on the jurors in the case against Kohberger.
“Being able to visit the crime scene in certain cases is extremely important,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney whose clients include Idaho “cult mom” murderer Lori Vallow. “Videos and images can help, but they may not accurately represent the scene as an in-person visit would. The house must be preserved until the trial concludes or until Kohberger pleads guilty.”
Police arrested Kohberger on Dec. 30, weeks after the murders, after he took a cross-country road trip with his father back to their family home in Pennsylvania.
At the time of the murders, he was studying for a doctorate. in criminology at Washington State University, about a 10-mile drive from the King Road home.
He allegedly killed the four students on two floors of the three-story building, saving two other housemates, one of whom told police he saw a masked man while looking through his bedroom door.
Investigators examine the off-campus home where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death on November 25, 2022 in Moscow, Idaho. James Keivom
Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, were discovered in an upstairs bedroom. Under Mogen’s body, police found the sheath of a Ka-Bar knife that they say tested positive for Kohberger’s DNA.
On the middle floor, responding officers found the bodies of Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle, both 20 years old.
The owner donated the property to the University of Idaho earlier this year, and officials announced plans to demolish it and build a memorial garden that Chapin’s family says is being designed by UI architecture students.
Police and forensic units came to remove bedding, blood-stained mattresses, furniture and personal effects from 1122 King Road in Moscow, ID, where the four University of Idaho students were murdered. Kevin C. Downs for the New York Post
Attorney Shanon Gray issued a statement Wednesday from the Goncalves and Kernodle families, who said they had “contacted the Latah County Prosecutors Office and the University of Idaho to stop this madness” and preserve the home until Kohberger’s trial. “for basic evidentiary purposes.” .”
“When victims cannot speak, you have to do it for them when you feel that someone is harming the case,” they said.
“We have always wanted the King Rd. house not to be demolished until after the trial and we will have a trial date so we can expect justice to be done,” they added, pushing for a trial date to be set. “Is it really too much to ask?”
Kohberger had initially been scheduled for trial in October, but he waived his right to a speedy trial and instead focused on challenging the indictment and DNA evidence.
The Goncalves family, in a Facebook post, lamented the decision to tear down the building and said December 28 would be “a very sad day.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn