Demolition of Idaho murder house is ‘absurd’: Forensics expert
Forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan says ‘valuable information’ could have been lost by tearing down the house, possibly helping the suspect.
Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger's "alibi" that he was driving around looking at "the moon and stars," is too vague, according to prosecutors.
Now, they are asking the judge to deny any further requests from his defense to call witnesses other than the defendant himself in an attempt to prove he wasn't at the King Road home at the time of the stabbings that killed University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and her visiting boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.
"With the exception of the reference to Wawawai Park (which is new), the defendant is offering nothing new to his initial ‘alibi’ that he was simply driving around during the morning hours of November 13, 2022," Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson wrote in a court filing.
IDAHO MURDERS: BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE ‘FIRMLY BELIEVES’ IN SUSPECT'S INNOCENCE
Bryan Kohberger enters a courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse June 27, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (August Frank-Pool/Getty Images)
"As the State noted during the August 2023 hearing, the State is aware that the defendant was driving around rural areas of Whitman County, Washington, and Latah County, Idaho, during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. In fact, the defendant's travels during that time are described in the original Probable Cause Affidavit supporting the Criminal Complaint in this case."
Read the prosecution's filing:
The prosecution's concerns may not be enough to convince the judge, however, according to Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented the "cult mom" killer Lori Vallow.
"It is not up to the State to determine what is or is not relevant to the defense," she told Fox News Digital. "Try as they may to control the narrative."
She noted that Kohberger has a constitutional right to mount a defense and called the latest filing "the prosecution’s equivalent of a temper tantrum."
"It has now been approximately 11 months since the State filed its ‘Request for Discovery Disclosure; Alibi Demand’ on May 23, 2023, and almost a year and a half since the homicides occurred. The defendant has been given more time than he is legally entitled in order to provide his alibi."
More than a year after the murders, Kohberger's lawyers filed an alibi with the court claiming he was simply driving around.
Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson speaks with Wendy Olson, left, and Cory Carone during a motion hearing regarding a gag order for a case against Bryan Kohberger in Latah County District Court June 9, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)
"Mr. Kohberger was out driving in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022; as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars," his lawyers wrote. "He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho, including Wawawai Park."
Other experts agree with Thompson's claim that the alibi is a little lacking.
"The state’s response is short, sweet and to the point: What has been offered by the defendant as an ‘alibi’ is nothing of the sort," said David Gelman, a former prosecutor and now a New Jersey-based defense attorney.
Latah County Judge John C. Judge presides over an arraignment hearing May 22, 2023, in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho, for Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson-Pool/Getty Images)
A denial of the defendant's presence at the crime scene isn't enough to establish he was somewhere else, Gelman argued.
"He has offered no specifics as to his location at the time in question, nor has he offered the names of those witnesses upon whom he will rely on to establish the defense," he said. "That is not an alibi as contemplated by the law. The trial court should not permit the defense to pursue an alibi defense, based on the scant information provided."
Defense lawyers had planned to call an expert on cellphone data to support their alibi claim. Prosecutors are arguing that since the alibi is so vague, that shouldn't be allowed.
Bryan Kohberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania in advance of a highly anticipated extradition hearing. He's charged with the murders of four University of Idaho students. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
It's the latest in a legal tug-of-war between prosecutors and Kohberger's team.
Last month, Judge allowed the defense to resume its survey of potential jurors after a temporary order to halt activities. Alarmed county residents had been so bothered by the survey that they called police, according to court filings. But Judge ultimately found that the survey could continue as part of Kohberger's attempt to prove jury bias and argue for a change of venue.
Prosecutors allege that Kohberger is the masked man who entered a house just steps from the University of Idaho campus around 4 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022.
Bryan Kohberger appears in court in Moscow, Idaho, Oct. 26, 2023. (Kai Eiselein/Pool)
IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER WAS UNKNOWN TO VICTIMS, LAWYER SAYS
The following morning, police arrived to find four undergrad students dead in the house.
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 housemates in Goncalves' final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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Kohberger, who was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University, faces four charges of first-degree murder and a felony burglary count.
According to a probable cause affidavit connected to his arrest warrant, police allegedly found his DNA on a knife sheath under Mogen's body.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
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