Fox Nation host Nancy Grace slammed quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger’s defense team for “terrorizing” one of the survivors of the brutal Idaho college massacre in November.
Kohberger’s defense had previously issued a subpoena for surviving roommate Bethany Funke to appear at a June preliminary hearing, claiming she has “exculpatory” information that is “material and necessary” to the alleged killer’s defense in connection with the slaying of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
“If you look at the filings by this defense attorney Anne C. Taylor, it’s nothing more than a stunt, a stunt that is terrorizing a survivor of this brutal slaying,” Grace told “America’s Newsroom” Thursday. “In fact, in motions like these, it’s called domestication of an out-of-state subpoena. You must state why the witness is material, why they’ve got to try to travel all the way from Reno, nearly 700 miles back to Moscow, Idaho, to testify for the man that the state believes killed her roommates.”
“They say she may have information,” she continued. “That’s not enough, so this is a stunt by the defense.”
According to a police affidavit, one of the two surviving roommates heard something the night of the murders and saw a masked man leave the house where the killings took place.
But Kohberger’s defense team issued a subpoena for the other roommate, Funke, who Grace said may or may not have exclusive information in connection with the case.
“She may have slept through it. She may have seen something, may have heard something. We don’t know,” Grace said. “Why don’t we know? Because her police report and interview is sealed.”
The roommate initially fought having to travel to Moscow, Idaho, to appear at the hearing, but has agreed to meet with the defense team at her home in Nevada instead, according to a new court filing.
“In the last hours, there’s been a Hail Mary, and somehow, Bryan Kohberger’s defense has got this young girl who very likely saw all of her friends’ murdered bodies, to agree, we hear, to a sit-down interview in her home in Reno,” Grace said.
Funke’s interview with Kohberger’s team will take place “in lieu” of the subpoena, court documents said. Grace suggested that the subpoena push would have ultimately failed.
“I do not believe a judge is going to enforce this subpoena, and I’ll tell you why,” Grace said. “This is a prelim. Nobody expects the defense to put up any evidence. This is a bare-bones charging mechanism. The state will put up as few witnesses as possible.”
“This is just enough evidence to decide whether there is a question of fact for a jury. Now, clearly the subpoena was going to fail because… in this motion the defense filed, they can’t even spell the survivor’s name correctly. They misspell it the whole way through. They missed all the legal hurdles. You have to be reached to get a witness to come from out of state for a jury trial, which this is not.”
Kohberger, a former criminology Ph.D. candidate at Washington State University, is accused of entering a home near the University of Idaho campus on Nov. 13 at around 4 a.m. and stabbing to death four people inside.
He is expected to appear in court again on June 26 and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
