Idaho college murders suspect Bryan Kohberger is expected in court Friday as his attorneys argue a pair of motions that could delay the October 2 scheduled start date of his trial.
Kohberger is accused of the November 13, 2022, stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed in the early morning hours at their off-campus rental home in Moscow, as CrimeOnline has reported.
Kohberger, 28, was at the time a graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University, about 10 miles away in Pullman, Washington.
He was arrested on December 30 at his parents home in Pennsylvania, where he had gone for the holidays, and brought back to Idaho. A grand jury indicted him for the murders in May, and defense attorneys have been fighting to throw out that indictment ever since.
They’re also asking prosecutors to provide them with all of the documentation that led to their identification of Kohberger as a suspect via forensic genealogy — and those are the two issues before Judge John Judge on Friday.
The defense has made multiple arguments about the grand jury, arguing it was improperly seated, that prosecutors allowed prejudicial statements to be included, and that information given to the grand jurors was incorrect. They are seeking a stay in the trial proceedings on the issue.
Their latest argument contended that the grand jury should have reached its conclusion “beyond a reasonable doubt” rather than based on probable cause. Prosecutors countered that the higher standard was counter to the state grand jury statute.
Regarding the DNA issue, analysts looked at a DNA sample collected from a knife sheath found at the scene of the murders and, using forensic genealogy, developed some possible suspects. Comparing that sample with DNA pulled from the Kohbergers’ Pennsylvania trash, investigators determined that there was a high probability that the DNA came from the suspect’s father.
When Kohberger was arrested, officers collected a DNA sample directly from him, which they said matched the sample from the knife sheath.
The defense wants all the records from the forensic genealogy work, including other possible suspects who might have have identified, and has submitted affidavits from two of its own experts to dispute the work done by law enforcement investigators.
One of those experts said that DNA testing from commercial sites — the source of the “family tree” investigators developed — isn’t always accurate, and the second said that “loopholes” in the sites’ policies make it possible for police to obtain information “in ways prohibited by their terms of use and prohibited by their own policies.”
Many observers expect an eventual delay in the start date of Kohberger’s trial, but prosecutors strenuously oppose both of these motions.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom during a hearing Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP, Pool)]
