Idaho college killings suspect Bryan Kohberger's trial will start Oct. 2
Bryan Kohberger, the doctoral candidate accused of killing four Idaho college students last year, returned to court on Friday.
Judge John Judge heard over five hours of arguments on whether the case should be paused, after Kohberger's team requested a stay for the second time.
The judge denied the defense's request, moving forward with the originally scheduled trial date of Oct. 2, with the final pre-trial hearing for Sept. 29 and jury selection beginning Sept. 25.
The defense called four expert witnesses in genetic genealogy and forensic law and DNA on Friday to try and compel Judge to have the prosecution turn over all investigative and related evidence genetic genealogy including correspondence.
Judge did not make a decision on this major point of contention.
Prosecutors say they have turned over all discovery they plan to use in court – Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson said they do have one outstanding test remaining at the lab at this time and it will be provided. “We have given them everything, we can’t produce something that doesn't exist,” Thompson said.
In a July filing, defense attorney Anne Taylor alleged an "apparent failure" in the grand jury process and said, without elaboration, that "other irregularity exists within the grand jury process and further investigation is necessary to determine the impact, if any, in the convening of this grand jury."
In response, prosecutors claimed the defense was trying to "grind the litigation" to a "halt" with flimsy arguments and attempting to "buy more time" to challenge his indictment.
Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed to death four University of Idaho students: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20 and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
After a six-week hunt, police zeroed in on Kohberger as a suspect, saying they tracked his white Hyundai Elantra, cellphone signal data, and recovering what authorities said was his DNA on a knife sheath found next to one of the victims' bodies.
That DNA evidence taken from the knife sheath at the crime scene "showed a statistical match" with a cheek swab taken directly from Kohberger after his arrest, authorities said in court filings.
Kohberger's attorneys have pushed back on that analysis, saying the "statistical probability is not an absolute," and pointing to what they called a "total lack of DNA evidence" from the victims in Kohberger's home or car.
The defense has been pushing for more information on those genealogical analyses -- and they have attempted to cast doubt on the strength of investigators' evidence, and whether it pointed irrefutably to only their client.
Prosecutors have said in subsequent filings that they will continue to provide evidence in accordance with the law.
The defense has also sought to dismiss the indictment, though that motion was not slated to be addressed nor was addressed at Friday's hearing.
