Delaying Case Indefinitely

Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students, waived his right to a speedy trial on Wednesday .

After initially being scheduled to begin on Oct. 2, a new date for Kohberger’s trial has not been set as it has been delayed indefinitely, according to ABC News, CNN and Fox News. Judge John Judge accepted Kohberger’s waiver, ABC News reports.

Kohberger’s defense attorney Anne Taylor did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Thursday. The Latah County Deputy Court Clerk confirmed to PEOPLE that Kohberger signed the waiver of speedy trial.

Back in May, Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary following the Nov. 13 killings of Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. The four students were stabbed to death in an off-campus Moscow, Idaho home.

According to a probable cause affidavit previously reviewed by PEOPLE, DNA and cell phone pings had linked Kohberger to the crime scene.

After being indicted by a grand jury in May, Kohberger stood “silent” in court as the judge entered his “not guilty” plea for him at the time, as previously reported. Kohberger’s family told PEOPLE months before that they had “fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions.”

As for his latest decision to waive his right to a speedy trial, Kohberger’s defense attorney Taylor said that defense needed more time to present their case, per ABC News, which also reports that Kohberger’s defense wishes to keep his Sept. 1 hearing date to challenge the grand jury indictment against him.

Judge previously set a deadline of Sept. 15 for Kohberger to waive his right, per the Idaho Statesman.

“Upon the court finally putting hard deadlines in place, the [Goncalves] family suspected that the defendant would waive his speedy trial rights,” the Goncalves family shared in a statement to the outlet via an attorney. “This case carries enormous weight for the families and the community, and this additional time allows both sides to be fully prepared for the next trial date.”

Kohberger previously waived his extradition to Idaho on Jan. 3 while appearing in Pennsylvania court. At the time, Monroe County, Pa., public defender Jason LaBar told CNN that Kohberger was “shocked a little bit” by the allegations against him. He also told The Washington Post that he waived that extradition because he was “looking forward to being exonerated.”

Kohberger — who worked as a teaching assistant at Washington State University when the murders happened — previously had a DNA sample taken that allegedly matched DNA found on the sheath of a knife that was left at the crime scene, CBS and CNN reported.

The affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE states that a phone associated with Kohberger pinged in the area of the home at least 12 times before the date of the murders. “All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days,” the affidavit read.

Jessie Frost, a family friend of Mogen’s, previously told PEOPLE that Koghberger’s arrest was “such a blessing and relief for all of us… It brought a little peace that day.”