The lawyer defending accused University of Idaho quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger is set to make a jaw-dropping $200 per hour, according to newly released court documents. That adds up to an $8,000 weekly paycheck for Anne Taylor, the chief public defender of Kootenai County.
Latah County, where the trial will take place, agreed to pay that hefty rate to Kootenai County—Taylor’s actual employer—for her standard 40-hour work week. The agreement, obtained by KREM 2, also covers any overtime Taylor racks up, all billed at the same $200 per hour, paid directly to her.
Taylor was appointed to represent Kohberger in early January, right after he was extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho. He faces four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle.
The state tapped Taylor because she is qualified to handle capital cases, and Kohberger’s trial could very well become a death penalty proceeding. Tiny Latah County, with a population just over 40,000, reportedly has no other public defender with that level of certification.
The county is also paying Taylor’s second attorney $180 per hour and her investigators $45 per hour during the standard work week. On top of that, the team gets reimbursed for mileage, lodging, and meals—a big deal since Taylor would face an 80-mile commute from her Coeur d’Alene office.
But here’s the twist that has people talking: Taylor previously represented the families of two of Kohberger’s alleged victims. She worked with Xana Kernodle’s mother, Cara Northington, on unrelated 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 cases earlier this year—and withdrew from that case the very same day she was assigned to defend Kernodle’s accused killer.
“I am heartbroken because I trusted her,” Northington told reporters last month. “I can’t even convey how betrayed I feel.”
Taylor also represented Madison Mogen’s father and stepmother in separate 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 cases in 2020 and 2022. Now she’s sitting in the courtroom just feet away from the man accused of taking their daughter’s life.
With so many tangled connections and a price tag that raises eyebrows, one question lingers: how will this high-stakes case unfold when the lawyer knows the victims’ families so personally?
