This Thursday, a judge refused to exclude crucial evidence against the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students two years ago near the school. The ruling made it possible for Bryan Kohberger’s murder trial to start this summer.
What you need know about the case that stunned the country is as follows:
What s the case?
In the early hours of November 13, 2022, Kohberger, 30, is accused of four counts of murder in connection with the stabbing murders of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves at a rented house close to a Moscow, Idaho, college. According to autopsies, the four were probably asleep when they were attacked; they were all stabbed several times, and some of them suffered defensive wounds.
Weeks after the murders, the graduate student in criminal justice was taken into custody in Pennsylvania. His DNA was matched by investigators to genetic material that was collected from a knife sheath that was discovered in the rental house.
Last year, Kohberger refused to submit a plea when requested to do so, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
The little farming village of about 25,000 people, which hadn’t experienced a homicide in roughly five years, was rocked by the deaths. After the defense raised concerns that Kohberger would not be able to receive a fair trial in the county where the crimes took place, the trial was rescheduled from remote northern Idaho to Boise.
FILE: On November 29, 2022, bare areas may be seen in the icy parking lot in front of the Moscow, Idaho, home where four University of Idaho students were discovered dead on November 13. Beginning Thursday, December 28, 2023, the house where University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were murdered will be demolished. (File: Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)AP
What happened this week?
On Wednesday, Judge Steven Hippler dismissed Kohberger’s defense team’s claims that the defendant’s constitutional rights were infringed by police enforcement’s use of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy, or IGG, technique to find potential suspects.
Defense lawyers contended that police never obtained warrants to examine the DNA of possible relatives that had been entered into genealogy databases or to examine the DNA recovered from the crime scene. She contended that the IGG identification and all of its consequences should be suppressed by the court. Hippler refused to throw out the evidence as requested by the defense.
Before the trial began, the ruling eliminated what may have been a significant obstacle to the prosecution’s case.
What is known about the suspect?
Kohberger was a Ph.D. candidate at Washington State University, located roughly nine miles west of the University of Idaho, in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology.
On September 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho, Bryan Kohberger, who is charged with killing four University of Idaho students by stabbing them, is led into the Latah County District Court for a hearing.AP Image Source: Ted S. Warren
In 2018, he earned an associate of arts degree in psychology from Northampton Community College in Pennsylvania. According to DeSales University in Pennsylvania, he finished graduate work in June 2022 after earning a bachelor’s degree in 2020.
What s next?
If Kohberger is found guilty at the trial, which is scheduled to begin in August, prosecutors have stated that they will pursue the death penalty.
The judge has prohibited cameras in the courtroom and ordered a gag order for all parties participating in the trial.
The Associated Press
