Legal expert weighs in on arrest of suspect in Idaho murders

SALT LAKE CITY — During a news conference Friday to announce the arrest of a suspect in the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement personnel continued to be tight-lipped about their investigation.

KSL NewsRadio legal analyst Greg Skordas says that’s normal for these types of situations.

“The prosecutor and law enforcement sort of withhold as much evidence as possible,” he said. “So as not to taint a jury pool.”

Skordas says law enforcement wants to be sure no conclusions or assumptions have been made by the jury, prior to the trial. 

“You really want to make sure that when the case does get to trial that the jury isn’t sort of biased or predisposed to a verdict based on the things they’ve heard in the media,” he said.

Also, during Friday’s news conference, it was announced that police had stopped cleaning out the home of the victims.

“Yea, I really think that was an unusual request,” Skordas said. “I don’t know why the court would have done that. And why the court would have intervened in fact it really doesn’t make sense.”

With a suspect in custody, it’s possible law enforcement officials may gain new information. Skordas says there may be some things law enforcement can learn that would be found in the house.

“I wouldn’t have expected them to have done remediation on the house until they had a suspect,” he said. “So, it’s a little bit unusual that they were even doing that in the first place.”

The suspect, 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger, will be extradited back to Idaho at some point. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Pennsylvania next Tuesday.

Read more:

• Authorities swat down rumors surrounding unsolved killings of 4 University of Idaho students

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