Latest news with #Kohberger
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Idaho murder case runs into problems but suspect set for August trial
Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of killing four young University of Idaho students in 2022, is set to go to trial in August in a case that could see him sentenced to death. He is charged with the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – who were together in the same house when someone broke in at night and stabbed them to death. But the case is running into problems, not least a failure by prosecutors to ascribe a motive for the killings, which terrified a region and shocked the US amid a media frenzy around the crime. Last week, Kohberger's attorneys requested a trial delay, citing in part intense publicity around the case generated in part by a recent NBC Dateline special they claim was prejudicial to their client because it contained apparent prosecution leaks in violation of a non-dissemination order. The leaks included information that the phone belonging to Kohberger connected 23 times in four months to a cellphone tower near the rented home where the four students were killed. And also that he searched the internet for information about serial killer Ted Bundy as well as for pornography with the keywords 'drugged', 'sleeping' and 'passed out'. The defense is arguing it now requires more time to prepare for trial because of the publicity around that information. Related: Judge bans use of 'psychopath' and 'sociopath' in Idaho student murder trial Further problems may arise in July with the pre-trial publication of The Idaho Four, by the crime writer James Patterson and the journalist Vicky Ward, who ran afoul of a judge in South Carolina after obtaining crime-scene photos and documents in a civil claim related to that state's notorious Alex Murdaugh double murder case. Kohberger's attorneys have said the blurb for the book 'suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this court's non-dissemination order' and a delay might mitigate the 'prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity'. Idaho judge Steven Hippler has said he is open to appointing a special prosecutor to question people under oath to determine the origin of the leaks. But whether or not a delay is granted, a number of recent court rulings have been going against Kohberger, who has pleaded not guilty. His defense team has tried to keep considerable evidence, including a 911 call alerting police to the crime; the description of a man with 'bushy eyebrows' at the house around the time of the murders; and his Amazon shopping history, including the purchase of a knife similar to the one the alleged assailant was said to have used, out of the trial. Amazon records show that an account under Kohberger's name and email address bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener in March 2022, eight months before the murders, and had them shipped to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was later arrested. A brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath was found, police said, next to one victim's body and DNA on the clasp matched to Kohberger. Kohberger's defense team claims his Amazon purchase history was 'out of context, incomplete and unfairly prejudicial', but Hippler ruled it was 'highly relevant' and 'establishes significant connection between the defendant and Ka-Bar knife and sheath'. In another ruling against the defence, Hippler turned down a request to exclude the criminology student's 12-page master's essay from being presented as evidence in the trial. In it, Kohberger assessed how to handle a crime scene where a woman has been found stabbed to death. Other rulings going against the suspect involve evidence about his white Hyundai Elantra – a similar make and model of car that prosecutors say the killer drove and which was captured on security video near the home before the murders and leaving soon after. Nor has the judge allowed defense requests that the death penalty option be dropped because their client was once diagnosed with autism. Hippler instead ruled that the defense can only introduce the diagnosis if Kohberger testifies in his own defense or as a mitigating factor is he is convicted. But Hippler has also ruled that Kohberger's defense was permitted to keep a court filing 'in support of … alternate perpetrators' sealed from public view. It is not yet clear if defense claims of another perpetrator, or perpetrators, claimed to be in the documents will be permitted at trial. Absent from the prosecutors' filings to date are any attempts to ascribe a motive for Kohberger's alleged actions. Forensic psychiatrist Carole Lieberman has said she believes Kohberger's decision to study psychology and then criminology was because he was 'trying to calm the demons inside of him' and simultaneously 'trying to learn how to commit the perfect crime'. To the Guardian last week she went further, arguing that the bloody crime scene and use of a knife was evidence that Kohberger harbored rage against young women. Kohberger, she claimed, had held this rage since at least middle school, when he had a crush on a cheerleader – said to have looked like Kaylee Goncalves – only for her to reject him. 'I think that's why he stalked and killed them,' she said. Related: Man accused of murdering four Idaho students fights against death penalty According to some reports, Kohhberg followed Mogen and Goncalves on Instagram. The defence denies the claim and argues there is no motive to find because Kohberger did not commit the crime. Louis Schlesinger, a professor of psychology at John Jay College, said it should be noted that Kohberger's alleged crime was a targeted mass killing, not a serial killing, because there were two others in the home at the time, including a surviving roommate, who reported seeing an intruder with 'bushy eyebrows', and were not attacked. 'This seems to be situationally based, so you can rule out psychosis or impulsivity,' Schlesinger said, 'and it doesn't appear to be sexually motivated. It could be jealousy or a feeling of rejection or humiliation. But we really don't know the motive was.' But that doesn't mean a jury would not want prosecutors to at least imply a motive. 'Jurors want to hear a motive before they send someone to the execution chamber,' he said. 'They will want to know why he did it.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bryan Kohberger defense suggests 'alternate perpetrators' in Idaho murders, joining infamous legal strategy
Bryan Kohberger's defense team brought up the possibility that there were "alternate perpetrators" involved in the quadruple murders during a hearing in early May, but Kohberger is hardly the first person to point the blame at other individuals. During a May 15 pretrial hearing, Judge Steven Hippler revealed that Kohberger's defense team made a filing that suggested an alternate suspect. Kohberger is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 13, 2022, deaths of University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20. While Hippler did not rule on whether he was going to allow Kohberger's defense team to present the "alternate perpetrators" theory during trial, he did ask for more evidence supporting their claim. Former federal prosecutor James Trusty told Fox News Digital the strategy isn't necessarily a "full-throated defense" but rather a strategy used to create reasonable doubt within the jury. Bryan Kohberger Defense Claims 'Alternate Perpetrators' In Idaho Student Murders "The problem is, a lot of times, it's really designed to be not a full-throated defense to say Mr. Smith was the one that committed the murder, but just to create reasonable doubt. It's keeping in mind that the standard is tilted in favor of the defendant appropriately. And so the idea is to not always go full-throated and say he absolutely did it, but to make a run at it, to play it out in front of the jury, let them kind of come to their own conclusion that there's at least some doubt as to who did it," Trusty said. Read On The Fox News App Here's a look at other criminal cases in which the suspects invoked an alternate perpetrator. O.J. Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, along with her friend, Ronald Goldman, on June 12, 1994. Simpson's defense team attempted to bring in the alternate perpetrators' theory when they suggested in 1995 that the murders were done by Colombian drug lords, according to the New York Times. Simpson's lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., said in court that Brown Simpson and Goldman weren't the intended targets of the murder, but he suggested that one of her friends, Faye Resnick, was the person that Colombian drug lords had planned to kill. Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter Cochran said the drug dealers wanted to kill Resnick over money she allegedly owed. Simpson was ultimately acquitted but said after the trial that he would keep working to find the person who killed his ex-wife and Goldman. "My first obligation is to my young children, who will be raised the way that Nicole and I had always planned. … But when things have settled a bit, I will pursue as my primary goal in life the killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr. Goldman. They are out there somewhere. Whatever it takes to identify them and bring them in, I will provide somehow," Simpson said. Oj Simpson Murder Trial: Suppressed Witness Testimony Casts Shadow Over Verdict Scott Peterson was found guilty in 2004 of killing his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Laci Peterson disappeared from the couple's Modesto, California, home on Christmas Eve in late 2002. A pedestrian found her unborn son's body, decomposed at the time, in San Francisco Bay in April 2003. During Peterson's 2004 trial, his attorney, Mark Geragos, claimed a burglary near the couple's home at the time of her disappearance might have been connected to her death, according to the New York Post. Peterson was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X In April, the Los Angeles Innocence Project filed a petition that claimed 17 eyewitnesses who lived or worked in the Petersons' neighborhood "reported seeing a woman fitting Laci's description walking a dog in the neighborhood and nearby park" on the morning of Dec. 24, 2002, after Scott left for the day. Casey Anthony was accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Prosecutors alleged that Casey Anthony used duct tape as the murder weapon, claiming the mother covered her mouth and nose with it, which resulted in the child's death. Her body was found in a wooded area in Orange County, Florida. Anthony's defense lawyers claimed Caylee Anthony accidentally drowned while swimming in her grandparents' pool. 'Most Hated Mom' Casey Anthony Returns To National Spotlight After Acquittal In Daughter's Murder During the trial, Anthony's defense attorney, Jose Baez, argued that Caylee Anthony's father, George, covered up the drowning and sexually abused his daughter. George Anthony vehemently denied those accusations. Casey Anthony was acquitted on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse, butshe was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to law enforcement. Dr. Sam Sheppard was accused of killing his wife, Marilyn Sheppard, on July 4, 1954. According to Cleveland Historical, the family hosted a Fourth of July party. After the party, Sam Sheppard decided to go on a walk alone along a Lake Erie beach in Bay Village, Ohio. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub When he returned, Sam Sheppard discovered his wife's body "chopped up" on their bed. Bay Village police arrested him on a murder charge on July 30, 1954. He was found guilty at trial but maintained that a bushy-haired man was the individual who killed his wife. Sam Sheppard said he chased the man while he was fleeing their home. His conviction was overturned in 1966. Jeffrey MacDonald was accused of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters on Feb. 17, 1970, according to the News & Observer. Colette Stevenson MacDonald, 26, along with the couple's two daughters, Kimberley, 6, and Kristin, 2, were stabbed and beaten to death at their home located on the Fort Bragg Army base in North Carolina. Jeffrey MacDonald had several stab wounds. MacDonald allegedly told Army investigators at the time that his family was killed by a group of hippies, which included a woman in a floppy hat. The woman, according to MacDonald, chanted, "Acid is groovy, kill the pigs." MacDonald was indicted on three counts of murder by a federal grand jury in January 1975, but the trial didn't start until 1979. He was found guilty of first-degree murder for his wife's death and two second-degree murders for the deaths of his daughters. He was sentenced to three terms of life in prison. The Associated Press contributed to this article source: Bryan Kohberger defense suggests 'alternate perpetrators' in Idaho murders, joining infamous legal strategy
New York Post
22-05-2025
- New York Post
‘Dateline' special cited as reason alleged Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger's lawyers requested trial delay
Attorneys for a man accused of killing four University of Idaho students have asked that his trial be delayed, citing in part a recent NBC 'Dateline' special that they called prejudicial toward Bryan Kohberger and a need for additional time to prepare his defense. The filing dated Tuesday said moving forward with an August trial would infringe upon Kohberger's constitutional rights. It said attorneys need more time to review discovery, complete investigations and prepare for trial. Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. AP There was no immediate ruling on the request, which comes days after the judge overseeing the case, Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler, said he wanted to identify anyone who may have violated a gag order by leaking information from the investigation to news organizations or anyone else not directly involved with the case. Hippler last week ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to provide a list of everyone who might have had access to the previously unreported information about Kohberger's internet search history and other details that were featured in the 'Dateline' episode that aired May 9. Kohberger's attorneys raised concerns about the special and an upcoming book on the case set for release in mid-July. Their filing states the blurb for the book 'suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this Court's non-dissemination order.' 'A continuance is necessary to fully investigate the leaks and to mitigate the prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity occurring so close to the current trial date,' the filing said. Kohberger, 30, a former graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University, is charged in the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. The four University of Idaho students stabbed to death in November, were Kaylee Goncalves (top left) Xana Kernodle, (top right) Ethan Chapin (bottom left) and Madison Mogen. The four were found dead in a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. A not-guilty plea was entered on Kohberger's behalf. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
22-05-2025
Attorneys for Bryan Kohberger ask for trial delay, citing in part publicity around the case
BOISE, Idaho -- Attorneys for a man accused of killing four University of Idaho students have asked that his trial be delayed, citing in part a recent NBC 'Dateline' special that they called prejudicial toward Bryan Kohberger and a need for additional time to prepare his defense. The filing dated Tuesday said moving forward with an August trial would infringe upon Kohberger's constitutional rights. It said attorneys need more time to review discovery, complete investigations and prepare for trial. There was no immediate ruling on the request, which comes days after the judge overseeing the case, Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler, said he wanted to identify anyone who may have violated a gag order by leaking information from the investigation to news organizations or anyone else not directly involved with the case. Hippler last week ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys to provide a list of everyone who might have had access to the previously unreported information about Kohberger's internet search history and other details that were featured in the 'Dateline' episode that aired May 9. Kohberger's attorneys raised concerns about the special and an upcoming book on the case set for release in mid-July. Their filing states the blurb for the book 'suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this Court's non-dissemination order.' 'A continuance is necessary to fully investigate the leaks and to mitigate the prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity occurring so close to the current trial date,' the filing said. Kohberger, 30, a former graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University, is charged in the stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. The four were found dead in a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. A not-guilty plea was entered on Kohberger's behalf. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bryan Kohberger's defense team seeks to postpone Idaho murder trial
The Brief Bryan Kohberger's defense team has filed a motion to indefinitely postpone his murder trial, currently set for Aug. 11. The defense argues that a recent "Dateline" episode and an upcoming book have created prejudicial publicity through leaked, non-public information. The judge has already initiated an investigation into how "Dateline" obtained its material. BOISE, Idaho - Bryan Kohberger, accused in the killings of four University of Idaho students, is seeking an indefinite postponement of his trial date. His defense team filed a 40-page "motion to continue" Monday, citing a recent NBC Dateline program that they claim showcased "materials... to promote a narrative of guilt." The backstory Kohberger is charged in the deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Opening arguments in the trial are currently scheduled for Aug. 11. The defense motion argues that rescheduling the trial will "mitigate the prejudicial effects" of negative publicity following the May 9 Dateline program. The report featured data allegedly found on Kohberger's cell phone, including searches about serial killers and images of college-aged women in bikinis. What they're saying The defense stated in the motion that the Dateline program "includes details and materials, including video footage, cell phone records, and photographs of documents, that are not publicly available through official channels. The show repeatedly emphasizes the nonpublic nature of this information, stating it was obtained from unnamed sources who are close to the investigation, and that the materials were obtained exclusively by Dateline. Much of the "investigative" material presented by Dateline was taken out of context and will not be admissible at trial because it lacks reliability." Latah County District Judge John Judge has already called for a separate investigation into how Dateline obtained the material. Dig deeper The motion also referenced a forthcoming book by author James Patterson, "The Idaho Four: An American Tragedy," scheduled for release on July 14. The defense states the book's description of Kohberger as a "brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel," and the publisher's boast of "unmatched access" to the investigation, including interviews with "local law enforcement," further demonstrates the need for a delay. "This suggests that the apparent Dateline leak was not the only violation of this Court's non-dissemination order," the defense wrote in the motion. "The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. A continuance is necessary to fully investigate the leaks and to mitigate the prejudicial effects of such inflammatory pretrial publicity occurring so close to the current trial date." The Source Information in this story came from Ada County Court and various court filings. Tacoma cold case investigation yields no new evidence in Teekah Lewis case 17 arrested in Kent, WA during ICE raid Washingtonians will need state permit to buy guns under new law Activist marks 2 weeks in tree to protest logging near Port Angeles Rescue underway after boat sinks in Possession Sound near Everett, WA Murder, arson charges for suspect in Gig Harbor, WA house fire To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
