Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger's lawyer will TRIPLE her income with $200 an hour agreement to defend him - on the taxpayer's dime - despite multiple conflicts of interest with students' families

A lawyer defending suspected quadruple killer Bryan Kohberger (pictured) will be paid $200 an hour in his case – with any additional overtime. Chief Public defender Anne Taylor (Anne Taylor) will be paid by Kootenai County for her 40-hour work week, with Latah County agreeing to give the funds to Kootenai for her work. Any overtime that she accrues outside of those hours will be paid by Latah County directly to the attorney, with a second lawyer supporting Taylor in the case being paid $180 an hour.

Taylor is representing the 28-year-old criminal justice major after stepping down as the lawyer for Cara Northington – the mother of murdered Xana Kernodle, 20. She was in charge of her case until January 5, the same day that Kohberger was extradited from his home in Pennsylvania to Idaho. The lawyer is also accused of a second conflict of interest in the case after it was revealed that she represented Maddie Mogen's stepmother, Korie Hatrock, in June 2022 and oversaw a case involving her father, Benjamin in 2020.

Kohberger is accused of murdering Mogen and Kernodle on November 13, along with Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin. Experts previously told DailyMail.com that they would be 'surprised' if there was no one else that could represent Kohberger in the case , despite the small pool of lawyers in Idaho. In 2021 Taylor earned $118,866, but based on her $200 an-hour pay to represent Kohberger, she would get $416,000 a year.

Presentation of evidence in the case has been predicted to last five days in June – with an average of eight hours in court - meaning that Taylor and her team could earn more than $3,000 a day. In total, they would get $15,200 per week without overtime, as well as being reimbursed for mileage, lodging and meal costs. Any investigators working on her behalf will be compensated at a rate of $45 per hour according to the agreement, which was approved on Tuesday.

According to the American Bar Association, the average hourly pay for capital punishment attorneys in 2007 was $100 - which equates to around $141 in 2023 with inflation, meaning Taylor is being paid above average for the case. Taylor is one of just 13 public defenders in Idaho approved by the state's public defense commission to lead a capital punishment case – and the only one in all of North Idaho.

Latah County does not have a public defender who is qualified to represent suspects in capital cases – but they wanted to ensure they had a team of attorneys who can represent in death penalty cases. It could indicate that the prosecutors are leaning towards pursuing the death penalty, with the payment for that kind of representation discussed in the agreement.

Idaho also has a voluntary capital crimes defense fund, which requires specific criteria – including a prosecutor declaring they will seek the death penalty within 30 days of the defendant entering pleas. Kohberger is expected to enter a plea on June 26, around the same time as the presentation of evidence, so Latah County has until the end of July to officially pursue the death penalty. He is charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary and waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing in January.

Cara Northington (pictured center) previously slammed Taylor for dropping her case to represent Kohberger - saying she was 'heartbroken' to be silently dropped. When Taylor represented Ben Mogen, he was sentenced to 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to charges in 2020 and Maddie's stepmother pleaded guilty to possession of an illegal substance but it's unclear if she served any prison time. A legal expert previously called for Taylor to recuse herself from the Kohberger case as he believes it could result in the suspected killer appealing any result in which he is found guilty. California Appellate and litigation lawyer Matthew Barhoma told DailyMail.com that Taylor seems to want to work on the case with Kohberger – describing it as an 'odd and unique' situation.

He said, 'Taylor had many prior dealings with the mother on multiple occasions and that heightens the conflict. You have to assume she received no confidential information from the mother that could bleed into this case. And then you have to question if you can do the job impartially, and it could affect Bryan who may not have a replaced attorney. It is an inherently difficult issue with no clear-cut answer and is a gray area. However if it were me, I would recuse myself from the case.'

Kohberger was arrested on December 30 by a SWAT team at his parents home in Pennsylvania as they moved to search his apartment at Washington State University. He has previously indicated that he believes he will 'be exonerated,' with his family unable to pay for him to have private representation. A new search warrant, made public on January 17, shows that police found several hair strands, including one suspected animal hair, a black glove, a computer tower and one unnamed item with a collection of 'dark red spots.' They also hauled away a pillow with a 'reddish/brown stain' on it and the top and bottom of a mattress cover with 'multiple stains.'

Investigators, who raided the property back in December, also picked up receipts from Walmart and two Marshall's receipts, as well as collecting the contents of his vacuum cleaner. Authorities initially sealed the search warrant for the murder suspect's Washington home – arguing that releasing the details could 'prematurely' end the investigation. However, the document has now been unsealed with the approval of Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy, who filed the motion on January 17. Court documents show that eight strands of hair were recovered from the apartment, as well as a 'possible' animal hair. They also recovered a Fire TV stick during their search. All the items are now being stored at the Washington State University Police department.

Authorities reportedly said they wanted to see if any hair had been 'transferred' onto Kohberger and then back to his apartment – including that of Kaylee Goncalves' dog Murphy. Murphy was found alive in Kaylee's room by investigators who were called to the scene, and has now been returned to her ex-boyfriend. The application also stated that the home where the students were murdered had a significant amount of blood from the victims – including 'spatter and castoff blood.' Investigators believe that it was likely that the killer would have had blood evidence on their body or clothing, and hoped to find trace evidence in Kohberger's apartment. However, they did not describe the results of any of the testing in the documents and did not confirm if any hairs found matched the victims or Kaylee's dog. His offices at Washington State University were also searched, but nothing was seized by officers.

Initially, the court ruled that the warrant should be sealed until March 1, claiming that if it were made public there would be a threat to 'public safety.' Kohberger, 28, has yet to enter a plea for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (all pictured). Authorities released the probable cause affidavit against Kohberger just before his first hearing in Moscow, Idaho, on January 5.

It reveals how Kohberger turned his phone off on the night of the murders in an alleged attempt to cover his tracks before the murder. He is even alleged to have returned to the scene of the crime at 9am on November 13 - just hours after police believe he committed the quadruple murder. The documents say that the criminal justice graduate stalked the property at least 12 times. Officials have not revealed the exact dates they believe he canvassed the three-story property but confirmed that, in August, he was pulled over just two minutes after leaving the area covered by the cell phone tower closest to the home.

A Latah County Sheriff's deputy pulled him over on August 21 at 11.37pm as part of a traffic stop – in which he provided his number. During the stop, which was recorded on the officer's body cam, Kohberger was driving his white Hyundai Elantra. The papers also included details on how Kohberger's DNA was found on a knife sheath close to the bodies of Maddie Mogen (pictured right) and Kaylee Goncalves (pictured left). Authorities are still hunting for the murder weapon.

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