LATAH COUNTY, Idaho — The wheels of justice grind slowly, and it is not cheap to keep them turning.

More than nine months have passed before Bryan Kohberger’s capital crime trial is set to begin – and there is still no definitive answer as to where in Idaho it will take place. But local government officials in the area where four students were stabbed to death in 2022 know one thing: The trial will cost taxpayers a lot of money, so the county needs a cash infusion, officials have decided – wherever the trial ultimately takes place.

To that end, the Latah County District Court has been granted a significant increase for next year: The county’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an increase in the litigation budget to $150,000 for fiscal year 2025 – more than 40 times the $3,500 budget proposed for 2024.

This is not the first time the financial impact of the case has been raised. In 2023, prosecutors leading the case against Kohberger requested a budget of $135,000. Even then, they said, their share could cost more than eight times what is normally allocated annually.

Prosecutors allege that Kohberger, then a criminology doctoral student at nearby Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, and stabbed four University of Idaho students to death: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.

After a six-week manhunt, Kohberger became a suspect in police’s sights and was arrested at his family’s home in Pennsylvania in December 2022. In May 2023, he was indicted and charged with four counts of premeditated murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment, he refused to confess, so the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

His lawyers have said Kohberger was driving alone the night of the murders and was not near the crime scene. They say they can back up that statement with professional cell phone analysis.

The trial is currently scheduled for June 2025.

If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty.

As lives hang in the balance and the pre-trial process slowly advances, the financial items associated with the case continue to pile up.

Once the trial begins, according to Latah County’s approved budget, costs could include travel and lodging for jurors and bailiffs. Because jurors in this complex and high-profile case will require subsistence, including meals, the court also requested a significant increase in the jury meal budget: from $3,500 to $50,000.

The approved budget for witness fees is also significantly higher than last year and is intended primarily to cover the travel expenses of witnesses who are to testify in court, the budget states.

Commissioners also approved $20,000 worth of contracts and labor to prepare for trial in Latah County.

If the trial takes place in Latah County, that money would be used to hire additional staff for jury administration, according to Latah County District Clerk Julie Fry.

Whether the trial will take place in Latah County, however, remains to be seen and has become a point of contention before the trial. Kohberger’s lawyers argue that the “pressure to convict” their client in the area was “so strong” that jurors could not possibly be impartial. In fact, they argue, the “mob mentality” of the tight-knit community is the “exact reason” the trial should be moved to another area of ​​Idaho, where it could be heard by people with less emotional attachment to the news coverage that has been going on for nearly two years.

RELATED: Defense requests postponement of Bryan Kohberger’s trial in Idaho college murder case, citing “mob mentality”

“The traumatized city of Moscow is understandably full of deeply rooted, prejudicial guilt biases,” Kohberger’s attorney, Elisa Massoth, said in a recent court filing as part of her efforts to move the trial to Ada County and the state capital of Boise.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argue that people in Boise also have televisions and newspapers, so a relocation would be pointless. The focus should instead be on “working out remedial measures” to ensure a fair and impartial jury can be seated locally.

Both sides have tried to support their opposing positions with the argument of austerity.

“All of the considerations associated with the costs of prosecution and defense make Ada County, with the state’s largest airport, a logical choice,” Kohberger’s attorney Anne Taylor said in a motion filed in July. “A number of witnesses will be traveling to Idaho, and Ada County is a more cost-effective option,” she said, adding that moving the trial to farther away Moscow “would require most of the witnesses to travel to Spokane, Washington, and rent a car to drive to the Latah County Courthouse.”

As an argument against the transfer of the venue, the prosecutors also point to the court’s financial resources.

“Moving the trial to Ada County would incur extraordinary costs,” District Attorney Bill Thompson wrote in a brief earlier this month. “Whether out-of-state witnesses fly to Lewiston, Spokane or even Boise, the cost of rental cars for a handful of out-of-state witnesses is only a fraction of the total cost.”

If the trial were moved to Boise, the need for additional hotel rooms for witnesses would skyrocket, he said. It would also mean that witnesses at police and emergency dispatch would be taken away from their jobs “for days instead of hours,” “creating a ripple effect of inconvenience.”

“While the defense attorney has taken on this case on a contract basis and must travel whether the trial is in Ada County or Latah County, the same is not true for the court, the court reporter, the court clerk and the court attorney,” Thompson said.

“The State, bearing the burden of proof and dealing with the logistics of juggling witnesses and evidence at trial, would have to relocate its two lead attorneys, as well as its support staff and victim services staff, for weeks and likely months,” Thompson continued. “This would involve significant costs for lodging, transportation and per diem.”

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday to discuss the possible relocation of the hearing venue.