University of Idaho murder trial will be held in Boise, Idaho Supreme Court rules
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(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The University of Idaho quadruple murder suspect, Bryan Kohberger, will stand trial in the capital city of Boise, Idaho, according to a new ruling from Idaho’s Supreme Court.
With this new venue, a new judge, District Judge Steven Hippler, has been assigned to the case.
The original judge on the case ruled Monday that the case would be moved out of Latah County, where the crime took place, agreeing with the defense who argued that Latah County was tainted by pretrial publicity.
Defense lawyers surveyed Latah County residents and said their results found the “pressure to convict” Kohberger was shown to be “so severe” that the venue couldn’t be impartial.
The defense said one respondent answered they would “burn the courthouse down” if he were not convicted. The same survey, according to the defense, found “much less emotional” responses from people living closer to Boise, which is about 300 miles south of Moscow.
The prosecution has said the case has national and international interest, and that the case has been covered plenty in Boise, so a change of venue would not solve any problem.
The relatives of victim Kaylee Goncalves didn’t want the venue changed, saying they “felt that a fair and impartial jury could be found in Latah County,” and they believed keeping the trial locally would help the community heal.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in an off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the crime, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
The trial is set to begin on June 2, 2025.
If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty.
(OAKLAND, Calif.) — A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to a Michigan home invasion in which two men are believed to have gained entry by posing as utility workers.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office identified him as Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, and said they are seeking his extradition from Louisiana.
The second suspect remains at large, and the sheriff’s office is urging anyone with information that could lead to an arrest to get in touch.
On Friday, a 72-year-old man was found dead in the basement of his Rochester Hills home, according to the sheriff’s office. His wife, who called 911, had been tied up with her hands duct-taped.
It is not yet clear how the man, identified as Hussein Murray, was killed.
“Because of the gruesome nature of the injuries, it was not immediately clear if he had been shot or bludgeoned to death,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.
The woman told law enforcement officials that the night before the attack, the two suspects had also shown up to the home claiming to be responding to a gas leak, but they were not allowed inside.
When they showed up again on Friday, they were let into the home, and her husband went with them into the basement, “ostensibly to look for the leak,” according to the sheriff’s department.
When they came back upstairs without her husband, they tied her up and taped her hands, the woman said. She did not see him come out afterward and “assumed he had been kidnapped.”
In home security camera footage released by the sheriff’s department, the since-arrested suspect can be seen wearing a utility worker’s uniform and a mask while holding a clipboard.
“We’re DTE. We’re checking for gas leaks,” the man can be heard saying in the video, naming the Michigan-based energy company.
In a statement after the incident, DTE urged customers to “be alert for DTE Energy impersonators.”
“If anyone arrives at your home or business claiming they are from DTE, please ask to see a badge with a photo ID. If the person refuses to show their badge, do not allow them entry into your home. If the person becomes agitated or acts in a strange manner, call 911 immediately,” the company said.
In an interview with a Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ, Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard described Murray as “a loving guy, owned a business, cared about his neighborhood and his community.”
“[He] shouldn’t have been a target of this — no one should ever be a target of this,” Bouchard said.
Murray owned a jewelry and pawn shop, according to WXYZ.
Bouchard said they believe Murray’s killing was “very targeted.”
“It wasn’t random,” Bouchard said. “They’re not just knocking on doors and doing this.”
(NEW YORK) — Daniel Penny “used far too much force for far too long” and though he may be an “honorable veteran” and “nice young man,” he was reckless with Jordan Neely’s life because “he didn’t recognize his humanity,” Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran said in her opening statement Friday during the trial over the fatal chokehold.
“He was aware of the risk his actions would kill Mr. Neely and did it anyway,” Yoran said.
Penny is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Neely, a homeless man who was acting erratically on a New York City subway car.
“Jordan Neely took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train,” Yoran told a rapt jury.
Neely entered a moderately crowded subway car at the Second Avenue stop and began making threats about hurting people, scaring many of the passengers, Yoran said.
She pointed at Penny as she told the jury, “This man, took it upon himself to take down Jordan Neely. To neutralize him.”
Thirty seconds later, the train arrived at the next station and all the passengers left the train car, except two men who were helping Penny restrain Neely. The prosecutor said Penny hung onto Neely for 51 seconds after Neely’s body went limp.
“By doing so, he pushed Mr. Neely to the point of no return,” Yoran said. “He left Mr. Neely lying on the floor unconscious and didn’t look back.”
Penny has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death. His attorneys have said Neely was “insanely threatening,” but Yoran said Penny’s actions were unnecessarily reckless because he continued the chokehold for 5 minutes and 53 seconds after the subway car was empty of passengers. “A grasp that never changed,” Yoran called it.
“The defendant did not intend to kill him. His initial intent was even laudable,” Yoran said. “But under the law, deadly physical force such as a chokehold is permitted only when it is absolutely necessary and for only as long as is absolutely necessary. And here, the defendant went way too far.”
The prosecutor told jurors they would see video of the chokehold.
“You will see Mr. Neely’s life being sucked out before your very eyes,” Yoran said, appearing to upset one of the jurors who grimaced and briefly shut his eyes.
She also said jurors would see body camera video of Penny’s initial encounter with police, four and a half minutes after letting go of Neely.
When the officer asked Penny what happened, the prosecutor said Penny replied that Neely had been threatening. “Then he said, ‘I just put him out,'” Yoran told the jury.
The defense is set to give its opening statement on Friday following a break.
Protest audible from courtroom
The sounds of a sidewalk protest over the death of Neely were audible in the 13th-floor courtroom ahead of opening statements. Protesters were heard calling Penny a “subway strangler.”
Judge Max Wiley said he would instruct jurors to ignore “noise outside the courthouse.”
Penny, in a slate blue suit, strode confidently into the courtroom and took his seat at the defense table ahead of opening statements.
The jury of seven women and five men, four of whom are people of color, will be asked to do something prosecutors concede is difficult: convict someone of an unintentional crime.
To convict, prosecutors must prove Penny’s use of lethal force was unjustifiable and that Penny acted recklessly and consciously disregarded the substantial risk of putting Neely in the chokehold for so long. Prosecutors do not have to prove Penny intended to kill Neely, which defense attorneys have said Neely did not intend to do.
Wiley denied Penny’s bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.
The case has fueled political narratives about urban crime and captivated a city in which the subway is indispensable.
Differing accounts of the incident
While there is no doubt that Penny’s actions led to Neely’s death on May 1, 2023, witness accounts differ regarding the events that led up to Penny applying the fatal chokehold, according to various sources.
Many witnesses reported that Neely, 30, who was homeless at the time of his death and was known to perform as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty, according to prosecutors. Most of the witnesses also recounted that Neely indicated a willingness to go to jail or prison.
Some witnesses also reported that Neely threatened to hurt people on the train, while others did not report hearing those threats, according to police sources.
Additionally, some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train. However, others have said that while Neely had exhibited erratic behavior, he had not been threatening anyone in particular and had not become violent, according to police sources who spoke with ABC News following the incident.
According to prosecution court filings, some passengers on the train that day said they didn’t feel threatened. One said they weren’t “really worried about what was going on,” while another called it “like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing. I wasn’t really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don’t really hear anybody saying anything like that.”
Other passengers, however, described being fearful, according to court filings. One said they “have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that,” while another said Neely was making “half-lunge movements” and coming within a “half a foot of people.”
Neely had a documented history of mental health issues and arrests, including alleged instances of disorderly conduct, fare evasion and assault, according to police sources.
Less than 30 seconds after Penny allegedly put Neely into a chokehold, the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette Station, according to court records.
“Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train. The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a court filing objecting to Penny’s dismissal request.
According to prosecutors, footage of the interaction, which began about two minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely in the chokehold for about four minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train, with a couple of passengers nearby.
Prosecutors said that about three minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely ceases all purposeful movement.
“After that moment, Mr. Neely’s movements are best described as ‘twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'” prosecutors said.
The case is expected to feature testimony of passengers who were aboard the subway at the time, as well as a roughly six-minute video of the chokehold.
Jury to hear eyewitness statements
Before opening statements on Friday, Wiley granted a defense request to allow some of the statements that eyewitnesses to the chokehold made to police that were captured on body-worn cameras.
One witness, a Ms. Rosario, was captured on body-worn camera 15 minutes after the incident aboard the F train.
“I can see most of that statement coming in as an excited utterance,” Wiley said.
The judge declined to allow a part of her statement in which an officer is heard asking whether she thought Neely was on drugs.
A Mr. Latimer is captured a minute later and Wiley said his statement is “well within the immediacy of the event” and could be admitted.
“This person displays emotion, excitement as he’s describing what happened. It’s narrative,” Wiley said.
Most of the passengers who were aboard the train and who witnessed the event are expected to testify at trial.
Jury will see evidence that Neely did not have a weapon
The judge also previously ruled that the jury will see evidence that shows Neely was unarmed.
Penny’s defense had sought to preclude evidence or testimony about the lack of a weapon recovered from a search of Neely’s body but in a written opinion issued Thursday, Wiley said such evidence and testimony is relevant to the case.
“The fact that Mr. Neely was unarmed provides additional relevant information to aid the jury, namely, it clarifies what could have been perceived by someone in the defendant’s position,” Wiley wrote. “The possibility that a person in the defendant’s situation could have been reasonable in mistakenly believing that Mr. Neely had been armed is appropriate for consideration by the jury and well within their capability.”
The defense worried that including evidence that Neely was unarmed could bolster sympathy for the victim but Wiley said it would help the jury decide whether Penny’s actions were justified.
Penny’s lawyers and Neely’s family speak ahead of the trial
Members of Neely’s family were seated with the spectators for opening statements Friday.
“I loved Jordan. And I want justice for Jordan Neely. I want it today. I want justice for everybody and I want justice for Jordan Neely,” his uncle, Christopher Neely, said before entering court.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office are expected to concede that Neely may have seemed scary to some subway riders, but will argue Penny continued the chokehold well past the point where Neely stopped moving and posed any kind of threat.
Penny’s attorneys have said that they were “saddened at the loss of human life,” but that Penny saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others,” arguing that Neely was “insanely threatening” to passengers aboard the subway train.
While Penny’s defense will argue that he had no intent to kill Neely, prosecutor Steinglass has noted that the second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.
“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said earlier this year, after Penny’s request to dismiss the charge was denied.
“This case is simple. Someone got on a train and was screaming so someone else choked them to death,” Neely family attorney Donte Mills said in a past statement to ABC News. “Those two things do not and will never balance. There is no justification.”
“Jordan had the right to take up his own space. He was allowed to be on that train and even to scream. He did not touch anyone. He was not a visitor on that train, in New York, or in this country,” Mills added.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Newly released police body camera footage shows Sonya Massey interacting with police officers 16 hours before she was fatally shot in her Illinois home on July 6, when deputies responded to her 911 call of a suspected prowler.
In the course of the video, which was obtained by ABC affiliate WICS and is about 45 minutes long, an upset Massey is seen outside of a home on July 5, the day before Sean Grayson, the now-former Sangamon County deputy, shot her.
“I don’t know where they at,” Massey said in the video, referring to her children.
“They’re at their dad’s house,” an officer said to Massey. “They’re worried about you too. Everybody just wants you to be OK. That’s all it is.”
That encounter happened after Massey’s mother Donna called 911 to report that her daughter was having a mental health episode. In the video, Sonya Massey appeared to be troubled about the utilities being turned off at her home.
“When I got home, I ain’t got no hot water, ain’t got no lights,” Sonya Massey said in the footage. “I had to throw away all of the food.”
At one point in the video, Sonya Massey told officers she had been taking her medicine.
“When’s the last time you took your medicine?” one of the respondents asked.
“Last night,” Sonya Massey responded.
When Donna Massey called 911 on July 5, she pleaded with the law enforcement not to hurt her daughter.
“She’s been mentally, having a mental breakdown,” Donna Massey said on the 911 call obtained by ABC News. “She thinks everybody’s after her.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump was retained by Sonya Massey’s family soon after her death.
“Sonya Massey’s family is devastated by this new footage, which shows clearly that she was in the midst of a mental health crisis,” Crump told ABC News in a statement on Thursday. “Deputy Sean Grayson’s decision to use deadly force against a woman in distress remains inexcusable, unacceptable, and criminal. Grayson must continue to be held responsible for his actions that killed Sonya, who was in desperate need of help.”
Hours later, at 12:49 a.m. on July 6, Sonya Massey called 911 herself to report a disturbance.
“It sounds like somebody was banging on the side of my house. I don’t know,” Sonya Massey said when calling 911. “Could y’all come and see?”
Grayson, 30, and a second, unnamed Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to her 911 at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage showed Massey, who was unarmed, saying “Please, don’t hurt me,” to the two responding deputies once she answered their knocks on her door.
“I don’t want to hurt you, you called us,” Grayson said.
Seen later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searched for her ID, Grayson pointed to a pot of boiling water on her stove.
“We don’t need a fire while we’re in here,” he said.
Massey then poured the water into the sink.
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” she said.
Grayson then shouted at Massey and threatened to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologized and ducked down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rose, at which time Grayson shot her three times in the face, the footage shows. The former deputy failed to render aid.
Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last month.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. [redacted] and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
Grayson is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He is being held without bond and has pleaded not guilty.
According to police records, Grayson worked at six police departments in four years, was charged with two DUIs and was discharged from the army for serious misconduct. Grayson’s next court appearance is Oct. 21.
“The biggest question is: How did this man ever get hired in law enforcement?” James Wilburn, Sonya Massey’s father told ABC News in an interview in July. “But here’s a man who, in four years, he’s been in six different departments.”
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin and Kimberly Randolph contributed to this report.
