Bryan Kohberger's murder case cost rockets to $3.6 MILLION as taxpayer picks up ... trends now
The Bryan Kohberger murder case has cost taxpayers at least $3.6 million with no end in sight with his trial delayed yet again.
Millions were spent on the nationwide manhunt to find him, housing him in a pre-trial jail, legal fees, massive University of Idaho security costs, and more.
Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13, 2022.
The massacre at an off-campus house they rented in the college town of Moscow was the worst crime scene some investigators saw and shocked the country.
Well over two years later there is still no trial date with endless hearings for every minor issue that a former FBI agent called 'delay tactics'.
The Bryan Kohberger murder case has cost taxpayers at least $3.6 million with no end in sight with his trial delayed yet again
Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13, 2022
Every court date means more legal fees, and every delay to the trial means Kohberger's prison costs increase by more than $100 a day.
Frustration is even showing on Judge John Judge of Idaho's 2nd Judicial District in Latah County, who is overseeing the case.
'If we have to have hearings on every single thing, we've got a long ways to go. And it's a lot of time, it's a lot of work, it's a lot of money, and it just makes everything more difficult,' he said at one of many recent hearings.
Analysis of financial records by the Idaho Statesman found the greatest cost was, predictably, legal fees for both sides.
Legal fees are difficult to exactly calculate as much of the costs are not available, and those for the defense are sealed by judicial order.
Kohberger doesn't have the money to pay for his defense so the county has to pick up the tab, and appointed Kootenai County chief public defender Anne Taylor.
Taylor, who bills at $200 an hour, was joined by her chief deputy Jay Logsdon, paid $180 and hour, and mitigation expert Elisa Massoth at $180 an hour. How much time they all spend on the case is unknown.
Latah County budget records only indicate a total amount spent so far: $1.4 million.
Kohberger's defense by three public defenders, paid for by the county, cost about $1.4 million so far. He is pictured with his second chair, Jay Logsdon (right)
Bob Boruchowitz, who studies legal costs in capital punishment cases like Kohberger's, said prosecutors pursuing death made everything more expensive.
'It's an enormous undertaking. The need to document every single part of the client's life for the sentencing phase is much greater when death is on the table,' he said.
'The prosecutor needs to know it, too, but the defenders have got to spend considerable time, energy and funds doing that.'
Costs for the prosecution are believed to be about the same as the defense so far, enough though most prosecutors bill at $50 to 57 an hour, as there are many more costs involved.
The university was also slugged with a massive $1.6 million bill that the State of Idaho paid it back about $1 million.
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