It’s a sad indictment of journalism today that reporters were fine with printing an unverified accusation that will smear an accused man without any evidence.<\/b>
\nBryan Kohberger, the criminology student arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary connected to the quadruple slaying of four University of Idaho students, may be signaling an intent to plead not guilty. Kohberger is currently represented by public defender Jason LaBar in Pennsylvania, who is handling the extradition order. LaBar told CNN that \u201cMr. Kohberger is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible,\u201d he said, forecasting that Kohberger intends to plead not guilty.
Moscow police have been unable to disclose what evidence they have against Kohberger that led to the arrest due to pre-trial rules in Idaho that restrict what information they can release to the public. Kohberger, however, does not intend to fight extradition, which will speed up the process of releasing the arrest and charging documents to the public.
LaBar revealed more details about Kohberger\u2019s trip from Idaho to Pennsylvania, saying he left Idaho on Dec. 17 with his father, who met him in Idaho for the long drive home to Pennsylvania for Christmas break. The media frenzy has begun in earnest, and every person who has ever been in contact with Kohberger is being plied for interviews by reporters looking for any angle that will get those coveted clicks.
Reporters at the New York Times turned to Kohberger\u2019s criminology classmates at Washington State University, who said that when the class discussed the murders, he was unusually quiet and didn\u2019t participate in the discussions.
\u201cWe had quite a long conversation in class about it too. I don\u2019t believe I remember him commenting about it at all,\u201d\u00a0 classmate B.K. Norton told the New York Times.\u00a0\u00a0
Norton, a lesbian, weirdly accused Kohberger of making \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d comments but did not tell the reporters what those comments were. Her accusation was repeated in many news publications that lifted her quotes from the Times. At least one other student, who did not want to be named, backed up Norton\u2019s account but didn\u2019t elaborate on the actual comments, though they said the incident \u201csomewhat isolated\u201d Kohberger from other students and he had trouble making friends after that. Was Kohberger canceled by his classmates for wrongthink? Why didn\u2019t the reporters who interviewed Kohberger\u2019s classmates nail down what the \u201coffensive\u201d comments were?
Instead, they chose to leave that part of this story undisclosed and open to the interpretation of the reader to imagine some dastardly insult, when history proves that LGBTQ activists are so easily offended that the things one can\u2019t say change almost hourly. Pardon my skepticism, but anyone crying \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d in the year 2022 needs serious vetting.
PJ Media contacted Norton and asked what was said and why other reporters hadn\u2019t asked for details. Norton responded, \u201cThey asked but I was not comfortable elaborating.\u201d When I pressed her for the statements she heard Kohberger make, she accused me of harassing her and deleted her public post. \u201cWhy would I tell some random person harassing me on my personal Facebook account,\u201d she wrote. Norton\u2019s Facebook account was open to the public at the time and I posted my question on a post of hers about the crimes. \u201cAlso, I\u2019m not the only one who told the papers that,\u201d she wrote. Norton is the only named classmate who told the NYT about \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d statements. The second classmate commented anonymously but also did not disclose the alleged statements.
And now she’s removed the entire post after accusing me of «harassing» her for asking for details. pic.twitter.com\/X0gOeW5uPc
Megan Fox (@MeganFoxWriter) December 31, 2022
What\u2019s revealing about this exchange is that reporters at the New York Times allowed someone they were interviewing not to answer an important question due to being \u201cuncomfortable.\u201d Why didn\u2019t they simply say, if you can\u2019t tell us what he said, we can\u2019t report this? It\u2019s amateur hour at the Times though, apparently, because they did report this student\u2019s unverified accusation and because of it, there is now a narrative building that is painting Kohberger as a bigot.
This is the type of accusation that should never be printed without verification. The \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d statements could have been an argument about \u201chate crimes,\u201d a highly controversial subject, during a criminology class, for all we know. It\u2019s a sad indictment of journalism today that several reporters were fine with printing an unverified accusation that will smear an accused man without any evidence. Maybe it is true, but no one bothered to find out and the only alleged witnesses wouldn\u2019t disclose any details. The question should be asked why the reporters, Rachel Sun, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, and Serge F. Kovaleski, chose to add such a vague accusation that only serves to cast Kohberger, who has the presumption of innocence, in a negative light.
PJ Media reached out to Rachel Sun, who is on Twitter, to ask why this was printed, and she blamed it on her co-authors. \u201cThis is a shared byline article and I did not personally interview the student you are talking about,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI can\u2019t speak for the other reporters or editors other than to say I trust the judgement of the ones I\u2019ve worked with.\u201d
Hi! This is a shared byline article and I did not personally interview the student you’re talking about. I can’t speak for other reporters or editors other than to say I trust the judgement of the ones I’ve worked with.
\u2014 Rachel Sun (@Rachel_M_Sun) December 31, 2022
PJ Media reached out to her co-authors but did not hear back from them at the time of publishing. If they do respond, we will update this article with their comments.
Other reporters got more useful information out of classmates that did not appear to be tainted by politics.
Ben Roberts, another classmate, told the Seattle Times that Kohberger seemed unusually tired. \u201cHe was starting to show up really tired,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019d always have a cup of coffee in his hand, and he kind of looked like he was riding the knife edge between worn out and completely exhausted.\u201d
Fox News spoke with classmate Sarah Healey who went to high school with Kohberger and described him as a socially awkward kid who didn\u2019t understand social cues and often offended people without knowing it. She also said that he was treated poorly by female students.
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t meant to be offensive,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was like childlike curiosity from an adult, who you would think would know better than to ask a question, but it was such a genuine curiosity. And that\u2019s why I thought he was so sheltered, that he just had no idea about these things. And I really just don\u2019t think he knew better.\u201d
Those comments were echoed by a classmate at Washington State\u2019s criminology and criminal justice graduate program.
\u201cI had honestly just pegged him as being super-awkward,\u201d Ben Roberts\u00a0told The Tribune Democrat.\u00a0Roberts, said that he took several courses with Kohberger, who sought to be seen as intellectual and \u201cwas always looking for a way to fit in.\u201d
Kohberger has the presumption of innocence, and the burden to prove the charges rests on the state. As the media goes into epileptic fits of irresponsible glee and tries to convict him in the court of public opinion with unverified claims like the alleged \u201canti-LGBTQ\u201d accusation that seems to be formulated for the sole purpose of finding fault with him, PJ Media will look for verifiable information and bring you sourced and factual evidence as it is released.
It is good to remember our system of justice should not rely on hearsay and rumor but on evidence that is admissible in court. We all hope the Moscow police did a careful and by-the-book investigation and that their diligence will bring the killer to justice. Until the evidence is presented, however, it\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess if the police got the right man, and Kohberger deserves a fair trial not tainted by the media\u2019s insatiable desire to smear the right by any means necessary, including their favorite means: unverified, vague accusations.
If any of Kohberger\u2019s classmates who heard the alleged comments want to reach out and give exact details, we are happy to report verified information. Email me at [email\u00a0protected]<\/p>\n