Idaho prosecutors have rejected the defense’s claim of potential DNA being possible planting at the quadruple University of Idaho murder scene, according to a court filing Monday.
ABC News reports that accused killer Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers previously asked the prosecution for more information on the Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) analyses used to identify the defendant.
They also raised doubts about the strength of the evidence and the investigators’ “objectivity,” reportedly implying that DNA found at the crime scene could have been deceptively placed there.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Kohberger is facing charges for the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. All four students were found stabbed dead in their off-campus rental near the University of Idaho in November 2022.
Police arrested Kohberger in December 2022 at his family’s home in Pennsylvania. He was extradited back to Idaho to face charges.
Prosecutors said in a court filing Monday that the defense’s claims are simply not credible.
“The State is at a loss as to how that theory supports a claim that the lGG information is material to the preparation of his defense,” Latah County prosecutors wrote in response to the defense’s claims.
“If Defendant wishes to explore the theory that his DNA was planted on the Ka-Bar knife sheath, he is free to do so. But the family tree created by the FBI has no relevance to that theory.”
In a court filing in June, Kohberger’s lawyers sought more information on the genealogical “family tree” prosecutors obtained.. They also mentioned the discovery of three additional male DNA samples found at the crime scene and pushed for answers on how prosecutors identified a car as Kohberger’s at the scene.
“The Defense is to guess whether the State focused its investigation on Mr. Kohberger via a bizarrely complex DNA tree experiment or through its faulty identification of the vehicle involved in this case,” the defense argued in June.
In their Monday filing, the prosecution stated that even if Kohberger’s defense intends to argue that the process was “rigged,” it would be irrelevant since they do not plan to present the genetic genealogy information during the trial.
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[Feature Photo: Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom during a hearing Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho. Defense attorneys for Kohberger who is charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students asked a judge Tuesday to order prosecutors to turn over more records, laying the groundwork for challenges to the case. Kohberger, 28, was indicted in May on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the Nov. 13, 2022, slayings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus. (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP, Pool)
