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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Witnesses sought by Bryan Kohberger’s defense must testify in trial | |
over Idaho students’ stabbings, judge says | |
By Associated Press | |
Updated: | |
8:09 PM EDT, Mon June 30, 2025 | |
Editor’s note: Bryan Kohberger has agreed to a plea deal to avoid the | |
death penalty in his quadruple murder case. Find the latest here. | |
Source: AP | |
A Pennsylvania judge on Monday ordered that three people whose | |
testimony has been requested by defense attorneys will have to travel | |
to Idaho to appear at the trial of , a man accused in the fatal | |
stabbings of four college students in 2022. | |
The defense subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew | |
Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger’s and | |
a third man whose significance was not explained. | |
The 30-year-old Kohberger, who was arrested at his parents’ home in | |
Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, weeks after the , is accused of sneaking | |
into a rental home in Moscow, Idaho, not far from the University of | |
Idaho campus, and attacking | |
The deaths shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, | |
Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology | |
at Washington State University. | |
A prison official came to court with records from Kohberger’s stay in | |
the Monroe County Correctional Facility after he was arrested, although | |
the subpoena hearing was continued because he must still provide a | |
statement attesting to their authenticity. | |
Common Pleas Judge Arthur Zulick also continued for a week the hearing | |
regarding a subpoena for Ralph Vecchio, who owns a car dealership where | |
Kohberger’s parents purchased a Hyundai Elantra in 2019. | |
There was uncertainty about whether the subpoena was directed at | |
Vecchio or at his father, who owned the business at the time of the | |
purchase. The judge said prosecution witness subpoenas will also be at | |
issue next week. | |
A sixth witness’ hearing had previously been rescheduled for next | |
week because of a travel conflict, and the seventh person sought by the | |
defense consented last week to travel to Idaho for the trial expected | |
to begin in August. | |
One of the witnesses, Brandon Andreola, argued unsuccessfully that his | |
subpoena should be canceled, saying he is his family’s sole | |
breadwinner and is worried publicity might lead to him losing his job. | |
Andreola said his “relationship with Bryan Kohberger has been minimal | |
and distant since high school,” with their last “significant | |
interaction” taking place in 2020, two years before the stabbings. | |
“If I’m brought out there, I believe the attention will be multiple | |
times greater than the attention that I’ve received already,” | |
Andreola argued. | |
Jesse Harris said he trained Kohberger as a 15- or 16-year-old at a | |
boxing gym but does not think he has testimony that will help the case. | |
Harris also said a relative’s health problems were an issue and he is | |
needed to run a small construction company. | |
Zulick approved the summonses for Andreola and Harris, along with a | |
third one for witness Anthony Somma, who did not oppose it. Zulick said | |
Harris can return to his courtroom if his family member’s health | |
issues become a barrier to Harris’ ability to travel to Idaho. | |
Kohberger’s trial on four counts of murder and one count of burglary | |
is on track to begin August 11 in Boise, Idaho, after a judge declined | |
his lawyer’s request for a delay last week. | |
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. | |
In a court filing, his lawyers said Kohberger was on a long drive by | |
himself around the time the four students were killed. | |
Kohberger was silent during his arraignment, prompting a judge to enter | |
a not guilty plea on his behalf. | |
A gag order has largely kept attorneys, investigators and others from | |
speaking publicly about the investigation or trial. The defense | |
team’s lawyer in the Monroe County Courthouse on Monday, Abigail | |
Parnell, declined to comment. | |
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