- All right. In Idaho, the long and winding road that is marked,
the quadruple murder case of Brian Berger has taken a dramatic turn. This, after a judge ruled the
accused murderer's trial could be moved out of Lata County,
the judge will get a new, the case will get a new
judge in the process. This ruling marks a major
victory for the defense because it pushed for a change of venue. At a court hearing just
a couple of weeks ago, the defense had argued that there were strong
emotions in this small, tight-knit community along with
negative publicity of coberg and that this all made
it impossible for him to get a fair trial in the county where the murders took place. So Lata County encompasses the
college town of Moscow home to the University of Idaho, and that is where Kohlberg is accused of brutally stabbing four
university students to death. In November of 2022, defense
attorneys pointed to a survey that they conducted claiming a majority of people in Lata County, 67% believe Coberg is guilty. The lawyers argued that
a mob mentality exists among local residents that would lead to riots if he were convicted. They were pushing for the
trial to be moved to ADA County where Boise, the capital
of Idaho is located. But the prosecution insisted a fair and impartial trial could
be held in Lata County where the murders happened. And that media coverage
of the case extends far beyond Moscow, Idaho. It is ruling Judge John C. Judge, yes, that's the judge's name, said the defense had shown
a reasonable likelihood that prejudicial news coverage
will compromise a fair trial in Lata County. He added the courthouse, wasn't big enough to handle the case, and that court and police staff were also insufficient. But Judge, judge stopped short of saying where the trial should be moved to and which new judge should take it over. He referred all of that to the State Supreme Court to decide. The trial was scheduled to
begin in June of next year. For more on all this, let's
go to our legal panel. Jesse Weber, news Nation's
legal contributor and Law and Crime Network host, and Misty Mes at trial
attorney and legal analyst. Great to have both of you. First of all, how surprising is this
that the judge agreed, - Nope, we gotta move it. I think all of us thought
this was a long shot for the defense, and it's
because you're talking about a case that has national interest, right? Forget moving it out
of a county anywhere in the United States. There's intense media
interest on that case. But when I was listening to the hearing, I could tell the judge was
really looking at this survey and the results of the survey
that the defense conducted, and specifically the point that
there was going to be a lot of problems in that county
if there was an acquittal and it could potentially prejudice jurors who didn't wanna be
responsible for an acquittal where everything is so personal. And the judge said, this is one of the hardest decisions in my career. - Wow.
- And that's when I felt, I think we could see this change of venue actually happening. - Jesse, the judge does
say in his ruling, not only that Berger de deserves a fair trial, remember it's a death
penalty eligible case. But he said 60, he cite,
he cites that phone survey. 67% of people say he's
guilty. 51% say it's hard. It would be hard to convince
me that he's not guilty. That's, those are big numbers. - So it was 98% of the
people they surveyed, 98% knew about this case. And of that 67% said they
would find him guilty. And look, you look at those numbers, you say that's pretty big. If you move it over to ADA County, so Ada County is 41,000 people,
ADA County, 500,000 people, you could see maybe similar statistics. But you're also looking at
a larger group of people. And I'll tell you, look, I
thought the judge wasn't going to change venue because
his consideration was, I don't wanna delay this case any further, but when you heard about the
complications, this was a case where you had to schedule it
when it wasn't the school year because of the complications. Is there enough space
for all the witnesses and the jury members and and reporters? And also, do you want to impact the students with this kind of - Yeah. Trial big. I mean, they were already so traumatized by these four murders. - Yeah. You started to get the
sense that he might move it. I will tell you, I actually think this is beneficial to the prosecution. - Why?
- So the defense obviously victory, right? They were concerned about his, their client not getting a fair trial. The evidence doesn't change. If I ask a person in California or ask a person in New York, whether or not you think Brian Coberg is guilty, the evidence is pretty strong. If the prosecution can, can
secure a conviction against him, the defense has now lost the opportunity to say he didn't get a fair trial. Right? There was a unfair jury pool. They've lost that argument they've lost to be able to make that
successful argument. So I think there's a strong chance that he could be convicted and the prosecution
would be able to secure that conviction on appeal. - Remember Misty, ADA County,
this is where the Chad debell and Lori Vallow murder
trials just happened to also very high profile,
highly publicized cases, both ending into convictions, by the way. - Yes. And that was part
of the defense argument, that there's other areas
that are more equipped to handle the intense media coverage and everything that comes along with that. Talking about Vallow and debell specifically
when it comes to Boise, which we don't know if
that's going to be the court, but that's what was referenced. Where else it be though,
it's gonna be another larger jurisdiction. To Jesse's point, the
prosecution's argument to cure those issues with the
jury pool was simply to go out and get more jurors. Right. To, to have a more, to
have bigger process. Right. And so now you're gonna
have that larger pool in any of those bigger metropolitan areas. But part of that was also that the courthouse itself
might not be equipped to handle a high profile trial. And we know Val and day though, those
were high profile trials. - It, it was interesting. The
judge wrote in his ruling, Jesse, while some of the coverage of this case has been neutral, much of it has been sensationalized
and detrimental to Coberg. That's not just in Moscow,
Idaho, that's across the country. - True.
- Be. And it's largely because of the huge amount of evidence implicating
him in these awful crimes. - And I think he, look,
he was very persuaded by the defense's experts
that were presented. And I think when they said,
if you look at the negative coverage and you look at it
in particular Lata County, small, close knit community, it it's more prejudicial
to have the trial here. Yeah, you're gonna have
negative coverage across the country, but with a wider
group of people to choose from. That's the main concern
where it will be, it'll be up to determine the Supreme Court. I I just think that at
this point, look, if, if you're trying to
push this trial forward, and I get the frustration of the family because this could delay
it further, but that - Was my next question. - Yeah, I get it. 'cause
it, this might delay it, it might not delay it. But at the end of the game, if the game is to secure conviction against Brian Berger, I will say once again, the evidence is very strong against him. And if you wanna secure a conviction that will not be overturned on appeal. This is actually the best
case scenario for them. - But we did hear the plea from the family to keep it in that county. And that's something else
the judge was going to have to take into consideration. - It's not just, it's a
victim's family, of course, every single witness, and
they're all gonna have to drive. It's a five hour drive
if it goes to Boise, a five hour drive from
Moscow, Idaho to Boise, Idaho. - Yeah. - This is not a
small thing for the lawyers, the witnesses, the victims,
the victims' family who wanna be there every single - Day. Of - Course they do. Course I will. I was saying, I, I was confused why the judge didn't make this decision earlier. Right. Some of these things.
Right. He was waiting for the surveys, he was waiting
for the defense experts. But in terms of whether or not
you have enough court staff, whether or not the sheriffs
have enough deputies for the security of that
building, didn't you know that a year ago? And so when the family says,
you could have decided this, I actually think they have a strong point. - And it's interesting because
remember the expansive gag order that was in place that also gagged the families
from speaking about this case. That was all in an effort
to keep information out of the public sphere so that the case could go
forward in Laal County. - Is the judge being super careful here because Brian Berger faces the death penalty if he's convicted? I mean, is that why? I
mean, you've gotta be, you've gotta dot every i, you know, cross every t Yes, I'm
saying that right. That's - Right. I always, Jesse, I always
get it wrong. That's right. I think Jesse made a great
point that the judge is looking and saying, what does an
appellate record look like? And if I don't decide
this threshold issue, if there's a potential for prejudice, well that could be something that
overturns a verdict on appeal. - Yeah, because look, look
at Alec Murdoch, right? They got a conviction. Now there's the question, is there
gonna be a second trial? That's the worst thing that could happen to the victim's families is
having to relive to go through - It again. Case - Second trial. - Boy, I just, I have to, I really feel for those family members, you know, absolutely facing not only
now a potential delay, but a, a, a commute of un un incredible hours long, you know,
just to go see justice done for your loved one, your son or daughter. Alright, Jesse Misty, thank you so much.