Prosecution’s expert witnesses for Bryan Kohberger murder trial kept from public view

State attorneys prosecuting the case against the man charged with murder in the deaths of four University of Idaho students have settled on their group of expert witnesses for next summer’s trial in Boise.

Led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, the prosecution met a court-imposed deadline to submit a list of those experts and their credentials last week. But the identities of those included among the group the state intends to call as witnesses in the case against defendant Bryan Kohberger is being kept from the public.

Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler pushed back several deadlines, including the trial start date, after he took over the high-profile capital murder case when it moved from Moscow to Boise at the defense’s request. Hippler gave prosecutors an extra two weeks to settle on their group of experts before they had to turn over the list to the defense. 

Under an agreement to seal between the defense and the prosecution, the state’s expert list was filed through the legal process known as discovery Dec. 18, according to a publicly available summary of filings in the case. Hippler’s case scheduling order did not require that the expert list be filed under seal, but he also has not unsealed the filing for public consumption. 

On Friday, Kohberger’s defense attorneys filed a motion with the court to compel the prosecution to provide written summaries for the testimony of its expert witnesses, the case summary showed. The filing also includes a request for court sanctions. 

Late next month, the defense must provide the state with its own group of experts for the trial scheduled to start in August 2025. Deadlines also are in place into the spring for both sides to disclose their witnesses during the case’s rebuttal and possible sentencing phase if Kohberger is found guilty.

In late April next year, the defense and prosecution must each file with the court the names of people they separately plan to call as nonexpert, lay witnesses, which are those people who can testify to facts from their personal experiences. Hippler ordered those lists to be sealed. 

Kohberger, 30, is accused in the November 2022 fatal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students at an off-campus home on King Road in Moscow. The victims were Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Wash.