Beyond The Horizon

ICYMI: Bryan Kohberger's Lawyer Argues In Favor Of The Surveys

Bryan Kohberger's lawyers and the man in charge of the survey that has caused some chaos were in front of Judge John Judge on Wed (April 10th) explaining themselves and the survey.

The hearing was contentious at times, with the prosecution not shying away from challenging the survey and claiming that it tainted the jury pool.

Kohberger's team countered that you can't taint what has already been tainted.

So, what is the purpose of the survey and what is the survey intended for?

here's how surveys can be used by defense attorneys to try and change the venue of a trial:

Identifying Biases: Defense attorneys may commission surveys to gauge the attitudes and biases of potential jurors in the current venue. If the survey reveals a strong bias against the defendant or a predisposition to convict, they can use this data to argue for a change of venue.
Public Opinion: Surveys can help attorneys understand the prevailing public opinion in the current venue regarding the case. If the survey indicates widespread negative sentiment or preconceptions about the defendant or the circumstances of the case, it can be used as evidence to support the argument for a change of venue.
Media Influence: Surveys can assess the extent to which media coverage has influenced public opinion in the current venue. If the survey shows that the majority of potential jurors have been exposed to biased or inflammatory media coverage, the defense can argue that it would be difficult to impanel an impartial jury in that venue.
Comparative Analysis: Attorneys may conduct surveys in multiple potential venues to compare attitudes, biases, and public opinion across different locations. If the surveys reveal that potential jurors in other venues are less biased or more likely to be impartial, the defense can use this data to argue for a change of venue to a location where a fair trial is more likely.
Expert Testimony: Survey results can be presented in court through expert testimony to support the defense's argument for a change of venue. Experts can interpret the survey data and explain its relevance to the impartiality of the jury selection process.
Legal Precedent: Defense attorneys can cite legal precedent where changes of venue have been granted based on similar survey evidence. They can argue that granting a change of venue in their case would uphold the principle of fair trial and ensure that the defendant's constitutional rights are protected.
Court Motion: Ultimately, defense attorneys would submit a motion to the court requesting a change of venue based on the survey evidence and supporting arguments. The judge would then consider the motion, along with any opposition from the prosecution, and make a decision based on the merits of the case and applicable legal standards.

(commercial at 10:13)

to contact me:

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Bryan Kohberger defense 'believes firmly' in Idaho stabbing suspect's innocence | Fox News

Duration:: 13m
Broadcast on:: 01 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In this episode, we're headed back out to Moscow to check in on Brian Kohlberger and the contentious back and forth battle that is brewing between the defense and the prosecution. And we saw a whole lot of that during Wednesday's proceedings in front of Judge Judge. So today we have an article from Fox News talking about Brian Kohlberger's legal team and their firm belief that their client is innocent. This article was published by Fox News and the headline, "Idaho murders. Brian Kohlberger's defense firmly believes in suspect's innocence." Well, I firmly believe that the New York Jets are gonna be good every year, only to be disappointed. And I have a feeling that Brian Kohlberger and his legal team, they're gonna feel that same sort of disappointment when all said and done. The author of this article is Michael Ruiz. Lawyers for the Washington State University Criminology PhD student accused of massacring four University of Idaho undergrads in a home invasion stabbing, told the judge on Wednesday that they firmly believe their client is innocent. Well, that's a wrap folks, let's just pack it all up and head home. Brian Kohlberger's not the guy, according to his legal team, and they fully believe it. Now, they must have some evidence that we're not privy to because everything that I've seen so far leads me to believe that the state of Idaho has the right guy. Now, of course, I'm always willing to see some evidence or hear about prosecutorial misconduct, but so far, we haven't seen anything that would even approach something that's gonna help Brian Kohlberger out as far as technicalities and loopholes. Brian Kohlberger, a 29-year-old from Pennsylvania, returned to the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, for an afternoon hearing on defense efforts for a change of venue that included a controversial survey that prompted the judge to ban both sides from contacting potential jurors. And the whole change of venue arguments hilarious, honestly. Talk about a waste of resources and a waste of time. If I was Brian Kohlberger, I wouldn't even be bothering with this to be honest with you. It's not like the old days we've been over this a million times, everybody's connected. Everybody in Idaho has heard of this story. Unless you're some sort of mountain man with no connection to the world, then okay, maybe I believe that you haven't heard about this, but everybody else, stop it. This story was wall to wall for months. And I'm talking about nationally, never mind on a local level, in a small-ass place like Idaho, so please stop wasting time, and instead of inferring that the jury pool is going to be tainted, here's an idea, now stick with me. Do a good job selecting that jury when it's time to get to that point. Because no matter where you go, people are going to have heard about Brian Kohlberger and what happened in Moscow. Our defense team, Fermly, and I mean Fermly, believes in Mr. Kohlberger's innocence, and right now he's being held to have a trial in a county that believes that he is guilty. Well, that's how this works, Alyssa Massoth. Somebody allegedly commits a crime, an investigation's launched, evidence is collected, then if that evidence is strong enough, well, the accused is hit with an indictment, and then from there we go to trial. And that's exactly what's going on right here. Oh yeah, any time a county arrests you and they indict you, they think you're guilty. Said Alyssa Massoth, a Payette-based defense attorney who once attended the same school as the four victims. She is a death penalty certified lawyer, called in to assist Kohlberger, who faces four counts of first degree murder and a charge of felony burglary in the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Calegan Solvis, Madison Mogan, Zanna Cernodel, and Ethan Chapin in a rental house on the edge of the University of Idaho campus. Massoth went on to tell the judge that denying a change of venue amounted to denying Kohlberger's constitutionally protected right to a fair trial based on data in the disputed survey. So they just fired off this survey and then they're going to try and use that survey as a basis for them to attempt to have the venue changed for the trial. And what they're saying is that that survey that they ran proves that an unbiased jury can not be seated in Leita County. And while I find it to be a valiant attempt, right, you got to give it a shot. If you're the defense attorneys here, I don't think it's going to work. And I don't think that judge judge is going to grant them a venue change. And I think more than anything, this venue change and this request in this fight is gearing up for later on down the road when it comes to the appeal. Remember, these guys are playing 3D chess. They're thinking about a hundred moves down the road. And certainly Ann Taylor and Mrs. Massoth, they know that their clients in jeopardy of being found guilty. And they know that there is going to be an appeal later on down the road. So why not set things up now? Kind of like check offs gunning in a story, right? You know, you load the shotgun in chapter two, you put it on the shelf, but you don't fire that bad boy until chapter 16. Two questions in the disputed survey were not part of the public record, he said. One of them, according to the defense expert and survey conductor Brian Edelman was about co-burger stalking at least one of the victims. It's been widely reported based on allegations and a probable cause statement unsealed after co-burger's extradition in Idaho that he stalked the six bedroom home on King Road at least a dozen times before the attack and returned one more time, about five hours after the murders. And I saw people talking about the pings, and yeah, there's no doubt that the pings aren't super strong evidence, right? You can explain those away, but what people aren't talking about is all of this evidence that's been filed under seal. And I suspect that Brian co-burger's phone connected to somebody's Wi-Fi in that area. And if that's the case, that is ironclad evidence. We're not talking about a cell phone ping now. We're talking about connecting to somebody's wireless internet or wireless modem. And you have to be in a certain vicinity for that to happen. So you can't just explain that away, right? And for me, it's not just one bit of evidence. It's the totality of evidence that we have seen and considering what we have seen in the past, when it comes to trials such as these, you know that the prosecution hasn't shown all their cards yet. They're holding some stuff close to the vest. And all that stuff under seal, I'm sure is going to fill in a lot of these gaps. Unfortunately, we're not going to get to see any of it probably until the trial. Bill Thompson, the Layta County prosecuting attorney, slammed Taylor's defense strategy and said she appeared to be aimed at tanking the jury pool. Edelman, who testified as an expert witness for the defense, said Thompson's critical lens over his work left him angry. Even while conceding, he included questions that he knew contained false information. Now why would you do that? In a case like this, if you're coming in as a third party, as a survey company, whatever, don't you think it's a good idea to make sure you're double triple and quadruple checking your work with everybody involved? Or you're going to find yourself sitting in front of a judge like Mr. Edelman is here. Massoth pulled statistics from the disputed survey that she claimed show 81% of people who responded had heard about the stalking allegation and took a position that Coburger is guilty. I mean, what are people supposed to think? Let's not act like there's a bunch of information being leaked. All that's being reported is basically what was in the affidavit. There hasn't been anybody coming out saying this, that the other thing, as far as sealed information. So I don't even know what she's talking about. Anywhere you go, this same information's available. And that's my point. No matter where you go, this information's available. This isn't private secret information that only the people of Laetat County have. And furthermore, it was the people of Laetat County who were wronged. So they should be the ones who sit in judgment of the person that they say, or their representative, Mr. Thompson says, is responsible. That's how the process works. She argued that you can't taint what's tainted, claiming another 79% of the defense's respondents knew five or more, prejudicial, and false media reports. And this is also why the gag order is a double edged sword. Brian Coburger, if he didn't beg for this gag order, could have been out here trying to do some public image building. But because of the gag order, all we have is the image that we're left with after reading the affidavit. So who's to blame? And that's why I've said a million times if I was innocent, I would fight tooth and nail against a gag order, tooth and frickin nail, because if I'm getting railroaded, I want the whole ass world to see and know that I'm getting railroaded. These are deeply held opinions in this community within this jury pool, she said, judge John Judge said the public record on the case is limited to the case itself, much of which is sealed and does not include posts on social media or news reports, bingo. And I am firmly in that camp as well. This has been one of the most tightly guarded cases I've ever seen. Just juxtapose it with what's going on down in Delphi. Now there were some hiccups here in the beginning, right? A little bit of issue as far as communication and you know, walking back some statements, but the actual police work has been pretty damn solid. He put a temporary halt on the survey, barring both sides from contacting potential jurors in the case after the prosecution raised issues about the questions last month. He has not yet decided when the polling can resume. Some of the questions read aloud in court include, "Have you read, seen or heard about Brian Coburger's arrest at his parents' home in Pennsylvania? Have you read, seen or heard if police found the knife sheath on the bed next to one of the victims? And have you read, seen or heard that DNA found on the knife sheath was later matched to Brian Coburger?" Mark Cal Zaretta, a jury consultant and founding partner of Magna Legal Services, told Fox News Digital that surveys are common practice when the defense is seeking a change of venue. However, he added, "Questions are typically tailored to be less specific about particular details in a case and more focused on potential bias itself. If I'm trying to elicit bias as a jury consultant, I don't care what their knowledge is about the case. What specific facts they know," he said, "what I want to know is based on what you know. Does that tie into the fact that now, just a mere hearing of his name, he's guilty?" He said that if more than 70-80% of respondents say yes, the jury pool is tainted. However, he said, "The defense always has a built-in plan B. If the survey is not enough to convince the judge to grant a change of venue, it will usually lead to a more rigorous jury selection process, and I am totally down with that." It should be a rigorous process, this dude's on trial for his life. But at the same time, this shouldn't be moved out of Laetah County. Not this day and age, now if we were back in the, you know, old days, yeah, sure, okay, fine, move it. But nowadays, in the vast majority of cases, it's a waste of time. The defense is pushing for a change of venue to a larger county with more potential jurors in the jury pool, suggesting Ada, Bonneville, and Bennett Counties. Judge will hear arguments on the potential change of venue at 10am on June 27th, and Coburgers deadline to submit an alibi is next week, but I was not going to have an alibi stop it. If he had an alibi, we would have heard it already. His alibi is going to be out driving around in my car, and there was nobody there with me, wait and see. Judge entered and not guilty plea to all of the charges on Coburgers behalf at his arraignment last year. So that's where we're at, up here in Idaho when it comes to Brian Coburger, and this battle over the survey. Now, I highly doubt that they're going to get the venue changed, but at the same time, I completely expected Ann Taylor and company to try and make this move. This is pretty standard when you're talking about a case like this. And of course, let's remember we're thinking about the appeal here. Don't get caught up just thinking about the now you got to remember they're thinking about the long game. And for Ann Taylor and company, they understand the stakes and they understand that any bit of damage they can do to the narrative that the prosecution is trying to spit. Well, so much the better later on down the road, but as far as moving the needle now, as far as helping Brian Coburger in the now, no help whatsoever, in my opinion. And once the judge makes his ruling, my guess is that this trial stays in Layta County. And if anything, maybe a jury gets brought in from the outside, but either way, we'll be here every step of the way, keeping an eye on things and making sure we get it all added to the catalog as soon as it's available. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.