Idaho prosecution seeks to limit murder suspect Kohberger’s alibi, alternative evidence
Prosecutors in the case against Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger have sought to restrict his ability to present an alibi defense, evidence of any mental health conditions and the possibility of other suspects in the quadruple homicide.
The defense countered with efforts to have the judge limit a witness from describing a male suspect with “bushy eyebrows,” and expert testimony over the type of DNA found at the crime scene that police allege matches Kohberger.
His public defense also will try to narrow the conditions that must be met for Kohberger to receive the death penalty if he is convicted of the November 2022 Moscow homicides, according to the latest court filings.
In earlier filings, Kohberger’s defense acknowledged he was out driving alone, as had become a habit late at night, but elsewhere at the time of the early morning attack at a home near the University of Idaho.
His attorneys later clarified that he was often near southeastern Washington’s Wawawai County Park, about 30 miles southwest of the college campus in Moscow, to watch the stars and the moon.
The assertion that Kohberger was elsewhere when the four U of I students were fatally stabbed, including without witness corroboration, does not meet legal requirements in the state for an alibi, prosecutors have argued. The previous judge in the case also initially labeled Kohberger’s submission of his claimed whereabouts a “so-called alibi, not really an alibi.”
Led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, the prosecution asked Ada County Judge Steve Hippler to limit any alibi claims at trial to Kohberger testifying to it himself. Even so, Thompson wrote in a legal brief released Tuesday, the defense had still yet to specify where the defendant was at the time of the crime, or identify anyone else who can help confirm his whereabouts.
“It has now been over two years since the homicides occurred (and since the defendant was charged) and it would be unrealistic at this late date to expect the state to effectively investigate and respond to any new or additional alibi-related disclosures,” Thompson said.
Kohberger, 30, is a former Washington State University graduate student of criminal justice and criminology and lived just over the Idaho-Washington state line in Pullman, about 10 miles west of the crime scene. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and a count of felony burglary, and the state intends to seek a death sentence if he is found guilty.
The four victims were U of I students 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. The three women lived in the Moscow home with two other women who went physically unharmed; Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and stayed over for the night
Furthermore, prosecutors want to prevent Kohberger’s attorneys from raising arguments at trial about possible alternative perpetrators, another court filing read. Police received thousands of tips about possible suspects during the homicide investigation, which garnered national interest, Thompson wrote.
From those, only information regarding Kohberger was substantiated, he added. “The state submits that any attempt by the defendant to offer or argue an alternative perpetrator theory without evidence specifically connecting person(s) other than the defendant to the homicides would do nothing more than mislead and confuse the jury and would also result in undue delay, waste of time, would be a needless presentation of cumulative evidence, and unfairly prejudice the state,” the filing read.
Kohberger’s trial is scheduled for summer 2025 in Boise, starting with jury selection July 30.