Cara Northington is the mother of slain Idaho college student Xana Kernodle. Recently, her grief became all the more painful when she discovered that her lawyer had abandoned her to represent her daughter’s accused killer.
Northington’s daughter Xana, 20, was one of four students murdered in November at a student house in Moscow, Idaho. On December 30, police arrested Bryan Kohberger, a Ph.D. student in criminology at Washington State University located eight miles from the Moscow residence.
Northington’s lawyer, Ann Taylor, was the chief public defender for Kootenai County. On January 5, the day Kohberger appeared before a judge in Idaho, Taylor officially dropped Northington as a client without informing her.
Northington was at the time being represented for various drug charges by Ann Taylor, the chief public defender for Kootenai County.
Northington said that she felt completely betrayed by Taylor’s actions and that her pain was compounded by the fact that the police had identified Kohberger as a suspect.
Northington said she only discovered that Taylor was representing her daughter’s accused killer when a friend saw it on social media and told her.
“I am heartbroken,” said Northington, speaking to News Nation host Ashleigh Banfield. “Because I trusted her. She pretended that she was wanting to help me, and to find out that she’s representing him – I can’t even convey how betrayed I feel.”
Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida, said that Northington’s situation was “heartbreaking” and that he feels, “It’s victimizing her again.”
Some have speculated that Taylor took on the case due to a lack of qualified public defenders in the small, remote county. Although, Taylor is just one of just 13 public defenders in Idaho approved by the state’s public defense commission to lead a capital punishment case. Prosecutors have yet to indicate whether they will seek the death penalty in Kohberger’s case.
Northington has since revealed that Kohberger was a member of a Facebook group dedicated to finding her daughter’s killer. This added another layer of pain to her already deep sorrow.
