Bryan Kohberger’s defense team has filed a formal motion to delay his upcoming capital murder trial, currently scheduled for August 2025, arguing that proceeding as planned would violate his constitutional rights due to incomplete trial preparation, mounting discovery challenges, and recent media publicity that could prejudice the jury pool.

Kohberger is charged with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home in Moscow. The case sparked national attention, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

In the motion, the defense cites Kohberger’s constitutional rights to a fair trial and effective legal counsel, emphasizing the heightened standards required in death penalty cases. They argue that thousands of pages of evidence remain unexamined, that key expert evaluations cannot yet be completed, and that recent high-profile media coverage — including a Dateline NBC special and an upcoming book — risk tainting the jury.

The defense also warns that pushing forward without adequate preparation could increase the risk of reversible error, a common issue in capital cases.

This request is not made lightly. Defense counsel has worked around the clock actively preparing for trial since appointment to this case, filed all motions in a timely manner, complied with expert disclosure deadlines, and had expected to proceed on schedule. However, it has become clear that without additional time, the defense cannot complete review of the necessary discovery, meaningfully respond to all of the State’s amended expert disclosures and incorporate the information into an effective defense, and finish critical sentencing phase investigations. While prompt administration of justice is important—to both the State and Mr. Kohberger—the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial outweighs modest delay. And, because the majority of cases ending in the death penalty are later overturned for error, the public interest lies in ensuring a fair trial in the first instance. A continuance will ensure that Mr. Kohberger’s fundamental constitutional rights are honored, and that any verdict rendered rests on a fair and complete presentation of the facts, not on forced haste.

You can read the full filing here.

No ruling has been made yet on the motion. If granted, the trial could be delayed.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if a jury convicts him of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in a Moscow home in November 2022.

Read our article, including all we know up to now here.