Bryan Kohberger’s legal team has filed some 160 pages of court documents challenging a wide selection of crucial evidence in the Idaho murders trial and calling for it to be thrown out.
Kohberger, a former Washington State University criminology student, is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students at their off-campus home in November 2022.
He was arrested around six weeks later and charged with the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, but has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Filings made on November 14, and seen by The Independent, call for the suppression of evidence including the 29-year-old’s DNA, which lawyers claim was “gathered illegally by law enforcement.”
Other evidence being challenged includes the contents of Kohberger’s digital history on his Amazon, Google, Apple iCloud and AT&T phone accounts, and evidence obtained from his apartment and vehicle.
Authorities have said Kohberger’s DNA was found on a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body. DNA was later matched to Kohberger through a cheek swab.
In last week’s filings, attorneys also accused Idaho law enforcement of being “haphazard” with the way it kept and disclosed records in the investigation. The validity of the search warrants obtained to search Kohberger’s vehicle and apartment was also questioned.
Prosecutors now have until December 6 to respond to the defense’s slew of evidence suppression requests, with a public hearing on the matter scheduled for January 23.
The venue for the high-profile murder trial was moved from the college town of Moscow to Boise after defense lawyers argued the extensive media coverage would make it difficult to find impartial jurors.
A new judge, Steven Hippler, has also been appointed to oversee the trial, replacing Judge John Judge. On Friday Hippler denied the defense’s request to extend deadlines for filing motions for discovery material.
"Motions to enlarge a deadline filed on the eve of the deadline are not well taken," he wrote in the ruling.
"The State’s discovery deadline was September 6, 2024. Defendant could have ascertained far sooner whether the discovery motions deadline would pose a difficulty and brought it to the Court’s attention."
Judge Hippler added: "Furthermore, and importantly, Defendant has not demonstrated with his filing good cause to enlarge the deadline.
"He has not set forth what efforts have been made to review the discovery, what portion of discovery has not yet been reviewed, why it has not been reviewed or how long it will take to complete such review."
The 29-year-old is accused of stabbing the four students to death at the house in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13 2022.
Mogen and Kernodle were living in the house at the time, while Goncalves had just recently moved out but had returned for the weekend. Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend, and was staying in the home on the night of the attacks.
Two other female roommates were also in the house at the time but were unharmed.
Kohberger’s was arrested at his parent’s home in the Pennsylvania Poconos on December 30 2022 and indicted by a grand jury in May 2023.
