Crime
Families Of Idaho Four Sue To Stop Release Of Crime Scene Photos: ‘Who Wants To Look At This Stuff?’
Days after Moscow, Idaho, police released nearly 200 gruesome photos of the crime scene following Bryan Kohberger’s 2022 stabbing spree, the families of victims Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin sued the city.
On Friday, August 15, a judge granted an emergency injunction blocking the release of about 180 more photos taken by investigators following the slayings of Mogen, 21, Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20.
Photos of “beds covered in blood” and “blood spattered on the wall” have already gone public, Brian Entin, guest host of NewsNation’s Banfield, revealed on August 18, adding that the families were not warned ahead of time.
The pictures are “not for public consumption,” Ethan’s mom, Stacy Chapin, told NBC News in July.
About 180 more images are set to be released. Leander James, the lawyer representing the Mogen and Chapin families, told Entin that images of the “death scene” and “bodies” were “most objectionable.”
“Who wants to look at this stuff?” he asked. “This is just plain wrong. And me, personally, I’m a fan of the First Amendment, I appreciate what the media does, and I appreciate transparency and the right of the public to know. But there is a line there somewhere, and I think we’re over that line.”
James urged both the public and the media to “think of the parents and the family members of these kids who were killed and think about how [you] would feel if [you] were in this situation. Please don’t look at them if they’re out there. It’s a matter of morality.”
A judge will decide if the photos should be permanently blocked from release at a hearing later this week, Entin said.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders in July and is currently serving four consecutive life sentences at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
