Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for joining us here
on Crypto News 1st at four.
I'm Whitney ward.
The suspect in the murders for of
four University of Idaho students
likely will not return to court
for nearly six more months.
A status hearing wrapped up just a
few hours ago for Brian Koberger,
the man police say stabbed those four
students to death back in November.
Today he waived his right to a
speedy preliminary hearing and
a judge set a date for that
hearing for all the way in June.
Nicole Hernandez was in the courtroom
as it happened today and tells us now.
What we can expect next?
So we will not be seeing the suspect in
court again for more than five months now.
This after a very short status
hearing earlier this morning,
we were in the courtroom today.
The judge set Brian Koberger's preliminary
hearing for Monday, June 26th.
Typically in Idaho,
the preliminary hearing has to happen
within two weeks of the first appearance.
The suspect, though,
waived his right to a speedy preliminary
hearing to give his attorneys time to
review the information in the case.
The judge reserved the entire week of the
26th for the presentation of evidence,
which is what?
A preliminary hearing?
Is that evidence is what Moscow PD
outlined in the arrest affidavit the
courts released last week after the
preliminary hearing will be the arraignment.
That's where the suspect will
either plead guilty or not guilty.
And this was the second time we've
seen Coburger in court here in Idaho.
He again had a very calm demeanor
and again did not address the people
in the back of the courtroom,
only addressing his attorneys
as well as the judge.
And the judge did say he will be
in custody with no bail until that
preliminary hearing in Moscow.
Nicole Hernandez, crime 2.
This.
And this development in the legal
case means we could be waiting
a lot longer to get more answers.
Janelle Finch is joining us now in
the studio breaking down this
legal tactic from the defense.
Janelle. Whitney, a
trial lawyer I spoke to today,
says a suspect can waive this
right for a number of reasons,
but it does set into motion next steps to
formally charge the suspect for the public.
Updates from the late talk county court
over the next five months may be scarce.
A lot of action will be going on
behind the scenes in this time.
The defense and prosecution will be
reviewing the facts of the case to
prepare for a scheduled week long
presentation of evidence in June.
Mo Hamoudi is a former criminal
defense lawyer.
And current trial lawyer out of Seattle.
He explains what's happening now and what
could occur in the time before June 26th.
He explains each party is
investigating the matter at this
time and speaking to one another.
He suspects that between now and then,
two of things may happen.
The case may come to a
close or as a resolution,
or the case may not come to a close.
There won't be a resolution,
at which point the prosecutor's
office will formally charge him by
coming to a resolution or close.
Hamoudi means it could be
in the form of a plea deal.
An example, an example,
could be a lesser sentence or dismissal
of some charges if he pleads guilty,
Hamoody says.
Typically,
the prosecutor would make this formal offer,
but the defense could approach
with an offer of their own.
Hamoody says the next five months
will give both the defense
and prosecution ample time to
understand the facts of the case,
to make informed next steps.
In the studio,
Janelle Finch cramped news.
All right, Janelle, before you go,
what did your expert have to
say about just the amount of
time requested between now
and that preliminary hearing,
now all the way in June?
Absolutely. He did mention that the
amount of time between now and June
is something that jumped out at him.
But this tells him that both
sides are negotiating and that
this is a very serious case.
Preliminary hearings are
not usually set up that far.
But he also says the time is beneficial
for both sides as they continue
to investigate the details and
prepare for their next day in court.
Whitney.
All right, Janelle,
thank you very much.
And tonight, we are hearing from
people who knew the suspect,
Brian Koberger, before he was arrested.
He's a graduate student.
At nearby Washington State
University in Pullman and in an
exclusive interview with CBS,
one of Brian Koberger's neighbors
there in Pullman said the
suspected killer spoke to him
about the murders in passing.
He brought it up in conversation,
asked if I had heard about the murders,
and which I did, and then he said,
yeah, it seems like they have no leads.
Seems like it was a crime of passion.
That neighbor, who has asked not to
be identified, said Coburger asked
him if he'd be able to kill someone
if he were a member of the military.
The neighbor said he also talked to
Coburger about watching the Netflix
drama series about Jeffrey Dahmer,
allegedly prompting Koberger, he says,
to share how rare serial killers really are.
The neighbor said Coburger shared
more about his grad school research.
Before his arrest,
Koberger was pursuing a PhD in criminology.
And tonight we have continued
coverage of the arrest coming up
on Crime 2 news at 4:30.
We are taking a deeper look at the
DNA evidence found at the crime
scene and the weight it can carry
in the case against him.
In other top stories at this hour,
the Spokane man found guilty of
a road rage shooting in 2021 will
now spend 15 years in prison.
This after a jury found the man guilty
of second degree murder just last month.
Crime two is Amanda Rowley had
the only camera in the courtroom
today for that hearing.
She joins us now here in the studio
with comments from the families
of the victim and the defendant,
Amanda
Whitney. I spoke with Richard Huff the
day after his arrest back in May 2021.
He insisted he acted.
In self-defense when he shot Erica Kenas.
And that's the defense his attorneys
clung to during the trial today,
Huff is still sticking to that story now.
In May 2021, Huff was in the car
with his family when they got cut
off by the car the victim was in.
Their interactions escalated from there.
Huff claims the woman confronted him
with a knife and threatened to cut him.
Then he shot her. Now,
during the sentence hearing this morning,
Erica's family told the judge.
How greatly they feel this loss.
Erica had a light inside of her.
I love her very much.
Myself and my family are deeply
hurt and angry that this happened
on a level that none of us can
truly express to you here today.
Or understand ourselves. Yet
the defendants family spoke in
court this morning as well.
Since Huff has no criminal history,
the family asked the
judge for a low sentence.
I know that he was a very
kind hearted person and I.
I know that what he did was.
In self-defense, he didn't
really have a way out of it.
And when deciding the defendants sentence,
the judge did consider the fact that
he has no criminal history and that
the woman did get out of the car,
confronted him, and that she was angry,
which is why the judge set a sentence
on the lower end of the standard
range again at 15 years in prison.
Now, Huff's defense attorneys told me they
do plan to file an appeal on this trial.
Huff himself also addressed
the judge this morning,
and I'll share what he had
to say tonight at 5.
Amanda Rowley KREM 2 news.
All right, Amanda, thank you very much.
New. At 4:00 tonight police have arrested
an 18 year old woman for a stabbing at an
apartment near Mead yesterday afternoon.
According to the Spokane County Sheriff's
Office, 18 year old Kelsey Aiken got
into an argument with a man inside
her apartment that they say escalated
into a physical fight where she
stabbed him in the shoulder and armed.
Police say she ran from the scene.
They did arrest her back at her apartment.
They say they have now charged
her with assault and robbery.
Well, police have made an arrest
now in the murder of a woman.
Last July, Spokane Police say they
responded to a death investigation.
On July 24th,
29 year old Corbin Hood called 911 and
reported that he found his girlfriend dead.
Due to the suspicious nature of the death,
Spokane Major Crimes then
began an investigation.
In November,
the County Medical examiner's office
determined the cause of death was a homicide.
Detectives were then able to
use the information to establish
cause and arrest Hood.
Say that he was located in a Florida
jail on an unrelated charge.
The process of extradition now
is underway to get him back to
Washington to face charges.
The inland northwest is booming with growth,
and as part of our boom town
coverage here on KREM 2,
we are at a meeting happening in Hayden,
ID right now where people are
learning a little more about the
possibility of a commercial terminal
at the Coeur d'Alene airport.
Tonight's informational meeting hosted
by Stan Craft it which is which is an
airports operations and management
company based out of Virginia.
According to the Coeur d'Alene Airport
director, if the project happens,
it would be located on airport.
Arrive in a space between two other hangars.
Parking would be located across the
road on what is now an empty lot.
So the airport director says this isn't
the first time that Coeur d'Alene
has had a commercial service airline,
but he also says that stopped
back in the early 90s.
The airport actually receives multiple
phone calls throughout the year
for the past couple of decades about
potentially restarting commercial airlines
that service out of Coeur d'Alene.
Our biggest drawback right now though,
is we don't have a commercial terminal.
So according to airport officials,
the airport would be the one.
Airports would be the one to build
the facility if it does get approval.
However, the Kootenai County Board of
Commissioners put off their decision about
this proposed development and a lease
during the board meeting just last month.
So make sure to tune in to Creme 2
News at 5:00 tonight where we will
learn more about this project and
what happened at tonight's meeting.
In the meantime,
let's talk weather now.
Very Gray skies across Eastern
Washington today.
Our meteorologist Jeremy Lagoo joining
us now with a look at kind of a warming
but kind of Gray gloomy forecast.
Any sunshine there?
Maybe. OK, maybe one day,
one day it's possible,
but the rest of them kind of a bit of a wash.
Today's not sign of things to come,
but it's a good idea of
what we have to work with.
Temperatures right now just
to have 40 degrees,
39 here in Spokane with rain coming
down and rain is going to continue to.
All in some locations we have reduced
visibility down to about 1/2 mile.
Basically those clouds are sitting on
the ground in places like Sand point
South of Sandpoint along 95 overlook
out pass out in Airway Heights,
Moses Lake, Wenatchee,
up through the Okanogan Highlands,
and Okanogan Valley.
It's socked in to say the least.
Now when it comes to the reason why it is
the abundance of moisture in the atmosphere,
it is quickly switching all over to rain.
A little bit of a freezing mix
over near Wenatchee right now,
but for the most part it's heavy rain coming
down here in Spokane and around the region.
We're going to watch that fall for
a bit longer, even Mount Spokane.
All rain right now,
it is that kind of warm outside and that
rain persists through this evening.
I think in the 9:00 o'clock hour
we'll start to see it. EPA little bit.
It'll wind down tomorrow.
It's scattered showers on and off
throughout the day, more dry than today.
But yes, the moisture kind of sticks around.
You want the sunshine?
I think Saturday afternoon might be
our best bet at seeing a little,
but even then we got to deal with
rain on either side of it.