Overview

• Second District Judge Megan Marshall ordered Moscow officials to black out any portions of images showing the victims’ bodies or blood immediately surrounding them.
• The court allowed release of other investigatory materials, including photos, documents, and videos showing distraught friends on the morning the bodies were found.
• Family members of Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin sought expanded protections, arguing prior online circulation of disturbing imagery caused severe distress.
• Following Bryan Kohberger’s July sentencing to life without parole, the city had begun releasing materials with blurring, which the judge found insufficient for the most graphic depictions.
• Marshall wrote that gruesome depictions offer little public benefit and amount to an unwarranted invasion of privacy, even as Idaho law permits broader access once investigations conclude.