Bryan Kohberger case leak could lead to excluded evidence, Idaho attorney warns
An Idaho-based lawyer said she thinks Judge Steven Hippler will "absolutely" hold prosecutors and law enforcement accountable after sensitive information about the Bryan Kohberger quadruple murder case was leaked.
A TV episode about the murders of four University of Idaho students was aired on May 9 and featured new cellphone records, surveillance video, search records and more. Kohberger is accused of killing Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
New information about the murders was shared during the May 9 NBC "Dateline" program, which included surveillance video from a nearby house. The surveillance video showed a car similar to Kohberger's that was in the area of the King Road house several times just before the four students were killed.
The program also claimed that FBI cellphone tower data showed that Kohberger's cellphone pinged nearly a dozen times to a tower that provides coverage to an area within 100 feet of 1122 King Road, where he allegedly killed the four students.
Edwina Elcox, a criminal defense attorney in Boise, Idaho, told Fox News Digital she thinks Hippler is taking the leak very seriously.
"I think prosecutors/law enforcement will absolutely be held accountable," Elcox said, noting she has worked on cases with Hippler as the judge.
Elcox said she "absolutely" thinks it's possible for evidence presented during the TV episode to be excluded in court.
"Can you imagine if the remedy for this was all that evidence being excluded?" Elcox said. "I ABSOLUTELY think that is in the realm of remedies."
"Not only should it never have happened under any circumstances, there was the gag order," she added.
Hippler said Thursday in an order that the court's gag order was "likely" violated by someone who, at one point, was associated with either law enforcement or the prosecution team.
Hippler ordered anyone who worked with either law enforcement or prosecutors on this case to retain all communications and data relating to the murder investigation.
"Such violations not only undermine the rule of law, potentially by persons charged with upholding it, but also significantly impede the ability to seat an impartial jury and will likely substantially increase the cost to be borne by the taxpayers of Latah County to prosecute this case by extending the time it will take to seat a jury and potentially requiring lengthy period of juror sequestration," Hippler wrote.
Hippler also said he's open to appointing a special prosecutor who'd investigate where the leak came from, but hasn't yet made a decision. He gave a seven-day deadline to prosecutors, who were ordered to submit a list, on camera, of all individuals within law enforcement and the prosecuting agencies that have access to the information shared during the episode.
Idaho Statesman Investigative Reporter Kevin Fixler told Fox News' "America Reports" he was surprised when the "Dateline" episode aired.
"I have been on this case since literally day one, and this was a surprise. A lot of this information that was released just two and a half months before trial. So we're trying to better understand where that came from," Fixler said.
Forensic expert and Jacksonville State University Professor Joseph Scott Morgan told Fox News Digital there's a risk that the TV episode on Kohberger will taint the jury pool.
"I think the first place you have to look is the tainting of the pool, of the jury pool," Morgan said. "Progressively, it becomes more and more difficult because people form opinions, they put things out there that are not true, and you still have yet to pick a jury. And it's not like you're going to Manhattan. You're talking about Ada County, Idaho. You have a limited pool of potential jurors there."
"They need to find out who's inside that investigative bubble that would release all of this digital data because you're talking about a copious amount, not just a new video that we're seeing that had never been seen before," Morgan added.
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Morgan said the leak might have the biggest impact if Kohberger decides to file an appeal, after a jury hands down a decision.
"Afterwards, if in fact [Kohberger] is found guilty, his attorneys are going to have a field day with stuff like this," he said.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital he doesn't think the leak will have much of an impact on the case.
"People should follow court orders, but this is more bluster than anything and I don't think much will come of it. This is what happens when you have a very broad gag order and it takes 3.5 years to finally get a murder case to trial. It's not realistic to expect evidence not being leaked to the media for years in the biggest murder trial in the country," Rahmani said.
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