The mother of Idaho murder victim Xana Kernodle said she feels “betrayed” after her lawyer, who had been representing her in court over drug-related charges, was forced to drop her in favor of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing her daughter and three others.
In an interview Wednesday with NewsNation anchor Ashleigh Banfield, Cara Kernodle was asked how she reacted upon learning of the change.
Kernodle said she only became aware of it through a friend who had seen it online rather than directly through the public defender’s office or the attorney, Anne Taylor.
“I’m heartbroken because I trusted her. She pretended that she was wanting to help me, and to find out that she is representing him? I can’t even convey how betrayed I feel,” she said.
Kernodle was arrested on drug charges on Nov. 19, a few days after her daughter was murdered. Taylor represented her until Jan. 5, when a judge appointed her to Kohberger’s defense team. The 28-year-old suspect, a Ph.D. student studying criminal justice and criminology at Washington State University, was arrested Dec. 30 in Pennsylvania and charged with the murder of Kernodle’s daughter and her boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, as well as Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Kernolde said that she has not been contacted by the public defender’s office as to how her own case will proceed.
This post originally appeared on and written by:
William Vaillancourt
The Daily Beast 2023-01-26 04:42:00
