Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger had a rare show of emotion during his arraignment hearing on Monday as he appeared to smirk at his attorney, Anne Taylor.
Shortly after arriving at his arraignment hearing, Kohberger, 28, sat next to Taylor, who serves as the Kootenai County chief public defender. After they were told to stand as the judge overseeing the case entered the courtroom, both Kohberger and Taylor sat down next to each other. Playback of the arraignment hearing showed Taylor looking over at Kohberger who turned his head and appeared to smile at her.
Kohberger is accused of breaking into an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, and stabbing four University of Idaho students: Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, to death.
Kohberger has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, and was indicted by a grand jury last week. When he was arrested at his parents’ house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, on December 30, Kohberger’s former attorney Jason LaBar said his client was “eager to be exonerated.”
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During his arraignment hearing on Monday, the judge overseeing the case, Judge John Judge, asked Kohberger if he would like to enter a plea on the charges, to which his attorney responded that he was “standing silent.”
In response, Judge said, “I’m going to enter not guilty pleas on each charge, counts one, two, three, four and five.”
Newsweek previously reached out to Taylor’s office via email for comment on the plea entered by the judge.
Kohberger’s trial was later set for October 2, and could take more than four weeks.
Meanwhile in a statement obtained by Brian Entin of NewsNation, the family for Kaylee Goncavles said, “The family would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this case and keep the memories of Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan alive. They are what is important not the Defendant.”
It continued: “We are thankful that the Latah County District Attorney’s Office finally took the case to a GJ [grand jury] and came back with an indictment. This is just the beginning of a long journey for all the families and we are thankful for your continued support and coverage.”
While a wide-ranging gag order has kept much information about the case from the public, Kohberger has only appeared in court twice since his arrest and has rarely shown any emotion. After he was extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho, he appeared to smirk once again at Taylor.