Judge Steven Hippler from Ada County told both parties in The Idaho Student murder of the case that they no longer have the permission of the court to submit a large number of documents under the seal and out of sight of the public.
“The omnipresent practice of the parties to submit material under seal in this case has become the norm instead of exception,” Hippler wrote in an order submitted on Monday. “Instead of trying to edit discreet sensitive information, full documents are submitted to seal. Moreover, there is much of the material that the parties are trying to seal in the public domain or is simply not confidential or sensitive.”
Bryan Kherberger’s Defense team and public prosecutors can still ask to have certain information, such as the names of witnesses and the family members of the victim, edited, Hippler said. He will also allow documents to be submitted under Seal as a seal is justified under Idaho Court Administrative Rule 32, which regulates documents that are exempt from public disclosure.
Bryan Kherberger enters the courtroom for a hearing in the Latah County Courthouse on 27 June 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. Kherberger is accused of killing four students from the University of Idaho in November 2022. (Augustus Frank-Pool/Getty Images)
“The parties must also look for the least limiting method to protect information that must or are exempt from disclosure,” wrote Hippler.
“Despite the fact that the concern of the court, for example, has been expressed earlier, the state continues to look for broad orders to seal entire documents to protect the identity of individuals instead of just using initials or to make a edited version public that only makes initials public.”
Idaho’s judge denies the defense of Bryan Kherberger to suppress important evidence
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The court will also continue to reduce archiving that include testimony from the large jury, because major jury procedures take place in secret as standard.
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“I have never seen so many documents sealed in a criminal case without a real legal basis,” said Neaea Rahmani, a former Federal Public Prosecutor and the Los Angeles -based test lawyer. “There is a strong suspicion that court applications are public.”
Judge Steven Hippler is the hearing for Bryan Kherberger, who is accused of murdering four students from the University of Idaho. (Idaho Judicial Branch)
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The case has delivered massive public interest in the US and abroad, he said, and as a result the public interest can be violated by carrying out so many of the procedures behind closed doors.
“It is not appropriate for the judge to issue a general order that cooks the families of the victims and allowing the parties carte blanche to submit everything to the seal,” he said.
Only a few days after Kherberger’s arrest in connection with the murders Van Madison Mag, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall gave the first GAG order.
Both parties have used that GAG order to justify the answering of virtually no questions about the case outside the courtroom. As a result, almost all known information was included in the case in a police statement that was unlocked in January 2023 or through statements from the courtroom.
“There is so little evidence that has just been done since the search,” Rahmani told Fox News Digital.
Madison may, in the top left, laughs on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, posing with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in the last Instagram Post of Goncalves, shared the day before the four students were stung. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Kherberger studied for a Ph.D. In criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, at the time of the murders. His apartment was about a 20-minute drive from the crime scene, at the neighboring University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, where all four victims were non-Grads. Each was stabbed several times in a 4 -hour home invasion.
Under the body of the 21-year-old may, The police found A Messchede that prosecutors claim that the DNA of Kherberger contained. Other known evidence includes phone data and video with the suspicious vehicle – as well as witness from a surviving roommate who saw a man with bushy eyebrows leave the crime scene with a mask, possibly a vacuum cleaner.
After the indictment of Kherberger, the case went to district judge John Judge, who was not guilty on behalf of his preliminary guide on behalf of his in front guidance in 2023, and he held the GAG ​​order in place.
Bryan Kherberger arrives in the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania prior to the hearing of the extradition. He is accused of the murders of four students from the University of Idaho. (The image directly for Fox News Digital)
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It went to Right Hippler after the defense parried and received a change in location.
In recent days, the third judge of Kherberger made various movements that prefer transparency, transcript From a closed door hearing about DNA evidence that took place in January and ordered the court to make audio recordings available for other sealed hearings that took place earlier.
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The Kherberger process is expected to start in August and can take up to 15 weeks. He could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
