Idaho Murders Suspect Bryan Kohberger’s Defense Seeks to Have Evidence Thrown Out
Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, is set to return to court on Thursday for a hearing ahead of his summer murder trial. Kohberger’s defense team has filed 12 suppression motions, seeking to have evidence against him thrown out.
At the heart of the motions are challenges to the legality of search warrants used to gather evidence against Kohberger. The defense argues that the probable cause on which the search warrants were based was established primarily through the use of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), which they believe violates Kohberger’s Fourth Amendment rights.
IGG is a relatively new approach that allows police to build a family tree of a suspect by comparing DNA found at a crime scene to public databases filled with voluntarily submitted DNA from people trying to learn about their ancestry.
The defense team is also seeking to exclude expert witnesses and arguing that search warrants were overly broad, particularly during the searches of Kohberger’s electronic devices, such as his phone, laptop, and online accounts.
The hearing will also cover a motion to compel discovery, with Kohberger’s defense arguing that it has not been given all the reports, research, and data on which expert prosecution witnesses will rely for testimony at trial.
Kohberger is facing four charges of first-degree murder and felony burglary in the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The students were killed in a 4 a.m. home invasion attack in a six-bedroom home just steps off campus on November 13, 2022.