MOSCOW, Idaho — Attorneys for Bryan Kohberger in court Tuesday argued for access to investigative records that law enforcement used to justify Kohberger’s arrest on suspicion of murdering 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.
The defense still lacks the requested documents through the required discovery process, Taylor told Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District Court in Latah County. She continues to seek documents pertaining to Kohberger’s cellphone location data, determinations a forensic analyst made about the make and model of the suspect’s vehicle, and the training schedules for three Idaho State Police officers involved in the investigation.
The prosecution countered that the defense had yet to provide sufficient justification for providing 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.
“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.”
Kohberger’s trial remains scheduled to start Oct. 2 in Latah County.
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.
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.
Judge on Tuesday clarified his revised nondissemination order, noting that law enforcement remains bound not to comment outside of the court record, as defined agents of the prosecuting attorneys.
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