Suspected University of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger has hired a new attorney who previously worked a case that appeared on “America’s Most Wanted,” involving a man who received four consecutive life sentences plus 50 years.
Elisa G. Massoth has been added as co-counsel for Kohberger, who faces four charges of first-degree murder and another charge of felony burglary for the murders of students Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin and Kaylee Goncalves on Nov. 13 in their off-campus Moscow home.
Massoth, who attended the same university as the four victims, is certified to defend death penalty cases and filed a notice of appearance with the Second Judicial Court on Tuesday, Fox News reported.
According to her website, Massoth is qualified to defend clients facing the death penalty. Under her “about” section online, she also claims to be “one of the top criminal defense lawyers in Idaho.”
She is Idaho’s Criminal Justice Panel representative and a former president of the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She also spent 11 years on the board of directors before becoming president.
Massoth’s previous cases include the overturning of a conviction for a man accused of attempted murder and kidnapping.
The man wound up receiving four consecutive life sentences plus 50 years, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, and the case appeared on the popular television program “America’s Most Wanted.”
Massoth, on appeal, was able to convince the court that the witness mistakenly identified her client.
Massoth joins public defender Anne Taylor — who will earn $200 an hour while working the murder case — as part of Kohberger’s legal team. Taylor was appointed to represent Kohberger soon after he was extradited to Idaho from Pennsylvania.
Taylor had counseled slain University of Idaho student Xana Kernodle’s mom in an unrelated drug case when she suddenly withdrew her services on Jan. 5, leaving the grieving mother even more devastated.
“I am heartbroken because I trusted her,” Kernodle’s mom, Cara Northington, said earlier this year.
“[Taylor] pretended that she was wanting to help me … And to find out that she’s representing him, I can’t even convey how betrayed I feel,” said Northington.
Taylor, who is chief of the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office, was the attorney for Northington in at least two cases. She was defending Northington after the mother was arrested and hit with drug possession charges on Nov. 19, six days after her daughter and three others were killed, allegedly by Taylor’s current client.
She dropped that case when she was appointed by a judge to represent Kohberger.
Kohberger has not yet entered a plea, but his former public defender, who represented him in Pennsylvania until he waived extradition to Idaho, said the 28-year-old expects to be exonerated.
He is awaiting trial in Latah County Jail. His preliminary hearing is set to begin on June 26.
