Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers intend to argue that someone else possibly killed four University of Idaho students in 2022, Thursday’s court hearing revealed.
According to the Idaho Statesman, Judge Steven Hippler granted Kohberger’s attorneys’ request to seal information about the supposed suspect or suspects. At the same time, Judge Hippler gave Kohberger’s legal team until May 23 to submit relevant evidence and an argument supporting its admissibility in this case.
Prosecutors will have until June 6 to respond to these arguements, and a hearing regarding this issue will take place on June 18, per the Idaho Statesman.
Kohberger, 30, is set to stand trial on August 11 for killing University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves on November 13, 2022, at the women’s off-campus home.
Kohberger’s attorneys have claimed Kohberger was not at the crime scene and was driving around alone the night the four students were fatally stabbed at the women’s off-campus home.
Mogen was found dead in bed next to Goncalves, and a knife sheath was reportedly discovered near their bodies. Downstairs, on the second floor, Kernodle was found slain next to Chapin, her boyfriend. Two surviving roommates discovered the bodies and called the cops.
Police claimed Kohberger visited the area 12 times before the slayings and that he turned off his phone on the night in question.
Prosecutors said Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath located near Mogen and Goncalves’ bodies. The murder weapon has not been found.
Defense attorneys claimed that prosecutors withheld evidence about unidentified DNA samples — including DNA on a glove outside the home which also remains unidentified.
Investigators tested DNA from a trash can outside Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania against DNA found on the sheath at the crime scene. Testing determined that “at least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”
At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was working on his Ph.D. in criminology from Washington State University, which is located 10 miles from the crime scene. He was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022, after taking a cross-country road trip with his father from Washington to Pennsylvania for the holidays.
In September, Kohberger’s trial was moved from Latah County to Boise, in Ada County. The trial’s venue was changed after the state supreme court upheld a ruling identifying publicity and media attention concerns that could jeopardize Kohberger’s right to a fair trial. Further, the courts noted that the Latah County courthouse lacked space and local police did not have enough deputies to provide adequate security.
Latah County will cover financial costs related to the high-profile trial even though it will take place in Ada County.
[Feature Photo: Kai Eiselein/New York Post via AP, Pool]
