Kohberger defense wants evidence records state is withholding in Idaho homicide case

Attorneys for Bryan Kohberger in court Tuesday argued for access to investigative records that law enforcement used to arrest Kohberger on suspicion of murder in the deaths of four University of Idaho students in November.

Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s lead public defender, petitioned the judge overseeing the case for three pieces of information that prosecutors have so far withheld and she said could prove critical to the defense’s case: Kohberger’s cellphone location data, a forensic analyst’s determinations about the suspect’s vehicle, and the training schedules for three Idaho State Police officers involved in the investigation.

With Kohberger wearing a black suit and tie and seated in the Moscow courtroom mostly with only media in attendance, Taylor told Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County that the defense still lacks the requested documents through the required discovery process.

“It is not a fishing expedition, it is necessary for Kohberger’s defense,” Taylor said. “We have come to an impasse. That is why we come to court today.”

Taylor pointed out that the three state police officers were involved with the case from the beginning. She told the judge that their training guided them on how to act, from interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence, and they could be called to testify at trial.

Taylor also told the judge that the cellphone data and vehicle forensics used by law enforcement are important to understand the police investigation into Kohberger.

During the roughly 30-minute hearing, the prosecution countered that the defense had yet to provide sufficient justification for the records and based its request on “just speculation.” The lack of agreement between the two sides led to a need for Judge to step in, Taylor said.

Judge set a July 14 deadline for the prosecution to turn over FBI records and said he will issue a ruling on the state police training records at a later date. The prosecution, with Latah County senior deputy prosecutor Ashley Jennings, and the defense agreed on the deadline.

Kohberger’s trial remains scheduled to start Oct. 2 in Latah County.

Kohberger could face death penalty

The 28-year-old man, accused in the stabbing deaths of four U of I students, was indicted by a grand jury last month. Kohberger was a former graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, and faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

The four victims were Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.

At his May 22 arraignment, Kohberger stood silent when asked to submit a plea to the charges brought against him. He did so to retain his right to challenge the indictment, his public defender wrote in a court record earlier this month. As a result, Judge entered a plea of not guilty on Kohberger’s behalf.

On Monday, the prosecution announced its intent to seek the death penalty for Kohberger. If a jury convicts him of first-degree murder, Idaho’s rule for a death sentence requires aggravated circumstances, which includes killing more than one person.

Kohberger at the time of the homicides was living in Pullman, on the Washington-Idaho border and located about 9 miles west of the U of I campus. He was a Ph.D. in WSU’s criminal justice and criminology program.

Police tracked Kohberger to his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania, where he was staying during the winter break from school. Law enforcement arrested him there Dec. 30, and he first appeared in an Idaho court on Jan. 5.

Law enforcement included in gag order

Left unaddressed Tuesday was the defense’s ongoing request for DNA records that initially led law enforcement to Kohberger as the suspect, as well as the detailed information from his indictment based on probable cause by a grand jury last month. The defense team filed for a pause in court proceedings while it continues to await the indictment records. The hearing had been scheduled to include arguments from the defense and prosecution on their opposing motions.

Prosecutors acknowledged for the first time this month that the FBI submitted DNA from the crime scene to public ancestry websites to initially land on Kohberger as a suspect. The technique, known as investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), was mostly reserved for cold cases but is becoming more common in active investigations.

So far, prosecutors have objected to turning over all records related to the FBI’s use of IGG, arguing that Idaho’s laws do not require it. In court filings, they’ve also petitioned to Judge that the documents are “not relevant” and “not material” to the defense’s case, in part because the prosecution does not plan to introduce the evidence at trial.

Once Kohberger was in custody, the FBI requested removal of the genealogy profile from the online genealogy services, per U.S. Department of Justice policy, Thompson wrote. The FBI also created limited records from the investigative technique that led to Kohberger, he said, which may conflict with some requirements of that policy, as the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

Kohberger’s defense argued in a response last week that prosecutors are attempting to hide their case through the lack of disclosure. Investigators also were aware of the DNA of at least three other males — two within the home where the students were killed and a third from a glove found just outside the crime scene.

“To this date, the defense is unaware of what sort of testing, if any, was conducted on these samples” other than standard DNA profiles, the defense wrote, concluding that none of the three are Kohberger’s.

In addition, the defense affirmed in the filing that there is no connection between its client and the four victims. There is a “total lack of DNA evidence from the victims” in Kohberger’s car, apartment and campus office in Pullman, and family home in eastern Pennsylvania where he was arrested, which warrants explanation, they wrote.

Judge on Tuesday also clarified his revised nondissemination order, often known as a gag order, which limited attorneys from speaking to the press. He noted that law enforcement remains bound not to comment outside of the court record, as defined “agents” of the prosecuting attorneys. Agents refer to those with the authority to act, Judge said, encompassing law enforcement’s interactions with prosecutors.