A judge presiding over the pending murder case against Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of brutally stabbing four University of Idaho students to death, has approved part of his discovery request.
In late June, Mr Kohberger’s attorneys argued that the prosecution should hand over the training records of three police officers who interviewed “critical” witnesses in the murders of the four slain students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle on 13 November.
The officers also attended the autopsy proceedings and were involved in the search for Mr Kohberger’s Hyundai Elantra, which was spotted in the vicinity of the crime scene on the day of the crimes. The witnesses they spoke with are expected to testify in the trial, which is tentatively scheduled for October.
The prosecution had argued that the training records were not part of the high-profile investigation and that the defence had not provided “substantial need” for the documents before Judge John Judge granted the defence’s request this week.
The state must now turn over the records to the defence by July 14. Mr Judge wrote in a filing that Mr Kohberger’s “adequately articulated the role each of these officers played in interviewing witnesses and finding and collecting potential evidence,” according to court documents obtained by Newsweek.
Mr Kohberger’s defence said that while there were more than 120 officers who worked in the murder investigation, they were only requesting records from three of them who played a critical role by collecting evidence, following up on tips and conducting more than a dozen interviews.
It comes amid allegations by the attorney for the Goncalves family Shanon Gray that the University of Idaho is disregarding families’ requests that the home where the murders took place be left standing until after the trial.
Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on 13 November— (Instagram)
The owner of the property donated the home to the school after the killings, and the university announced earlier this year that it was planning to demolish it. A date has not been set, but university spokesperson Jodi Walker said the school wants the house gone before the start of the fall semester.
Mr Gray said in an email to the Idaho Statesman that the university asked for the families’ opinions “and then proceeded to ignore those opinions and pursue their own self-interests ... The home itself has enormous evidentiary value as well as being the largest, and one of the most important, pieces of evidence in the case.”
Members of the Mogen and Kernodle families also oppose demolishing the property until after trial, the attorney said. Mr Gray was unsure what position the Chapin family had.
Mr Kohberger previously refused to enter a plea at his arraignment on four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of burglary in May. His attorney said that he was “standing silent” on the charges, leaving the judge to enter not-guilty pleas on his behalf.
Mr Kohberger’s trial is scheduled for 2 October, but the date is expected to be delayed following several motions filed by his defence.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
