Idaho prosecutors deny Bryan Kohberger’s numerous attacks on search warrants
Idaho prosecutors have rejected a number of lawsuits Applications by Bryan Kohberger to attack search warrants issued in connection with his arrest for the murders of four college students by analyzing the defense’s claims and telling the judge that there was “substantial probable cause” to obtain evidence from his parents’ home, his car, his devices and other places to be confiscated.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson wrote in part of the nine objections to Kohberger’s defense efforts that the warrants in question were “based on substantial, probable cause.” Many details remain sealed, but prosecutors are asking the judge to reject the defense’s motions and uphold the arrest warrants.
Last month, the defense asked Judge Steven Hippler to suppress DNA evidence and searches of Kohberger’s devices and digital accounts, his car, his person and his parents’ home.
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Bryan Kohberger (right) is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court on September 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the early morning massacre of four University of Idaho students around 4 a.m. on November 13, 2022.
Prosecutors allege he sneaked into a house near the University of Idaho campus — while some of them were sleeping — and killed them with a large knife. A surviving roommate told investigators she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” after hearing crying and the sounds of fighting.
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The victims were Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their roommate Xana Kernodle, 20, and their boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend Kaylee Goncalves as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other roommates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, which she posted the day before the four students were murdered. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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Kohberger, a doctoral criminology student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested weeks later at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains.
Under Mogen’s body, police found a Ka-Bar knife sheath that prosecutors said contained Kohberger’s DNA. According to the affidavit, Kohberger was driving a white Hyundai Elantra, the same type of car that investigators identified as the suspect vehicle, and allegedly turned off his phone before driving to and from the crime scene. Citing phone records, police also claimed he had stalked the victims’ home a dozen times the murders and drove by again hours later.
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A judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.
Objection by the public prosecutor’s office to the defendant’s application suppress
The defense team, led by Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth, is seeking a hearing against Franks and hopes to have the warrants overturned. They had previously told the court that they were “firmly” convinced that their client was innocent.
Such hearings are rarely granted and even more rarely successful, experts tell Fox News Digital.
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“I’ve been practicing law for 52 years now and have tried to actually go to trial and make a verdict in over 300 cases, and I think I’ve had judges grant Franks hearings three times in my entire career.” said John Henry Browne, the Seattle-based defense attorney whose former clients included serial killer Ted Bundy. “I think two of them came to nothing. And the third ultimately led to the judge dropping the charges. But these hearings can be very productive. They can be very helpful for the defense in terms of intelligence.”
Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorneys Anne Taylor (left), Elisa Massoth and Jay Logsdon arrive at the Latah County Courthouse on June 27, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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If Kohberger can prove that investigators willfully disregarded or misrepresented the truth in their affidavits, that information can be removed from the warrants, he told Fox News Digital. On the other hand, even if this long-term effort is successful, the judge will consider whether the warrant still contains sufficient probable cause and could conclude that it is still valid.
Hippler previously urged Kohberger’s team to resubmit the request for a Franks hearing, telling his lawyers that sending him 2,000 pages of evidence without specifying which parts were relevant to their arguments was unacceptable.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson speaks with Wendy Olson (left) and Cory Carone during a hearing regarding a gag order on a trial against Bryan Kohberger in Latah County District Court, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)
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A closed hearing was held on December 11th. Kohberger is due back in court on January 23rd.
He is being held without bail and could face prison time capital punishment in case of conviction. The trial is scheduled to begin next year.
