MOSCOW, IDAHO: An Idaho district court has filed a motion to force suspected Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger's legal team which argued that the grand jury was "misled as to the standard of proof required for an indictment." Kohberger, 28, is currently accused of fatally stabbing students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at their university campus residence in the early hours of November 13.
His trial is currently scheduled for October this year and prosecutors already said in June that they are seeking the death penalty for the PhD candidate in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at WSU (Washington State University).
Why has the state filed a motion?
The state has filed a motion pressurizing the court to force Kohberger to produce a reason why he was not in Moscow on the day of the killings after they refused to submit an alibi to the court before the deadline on Monday, July 24. Prosecutors are asking the suspect's team to submit places and times of his whereabouts alongside names and addresses of anyone who can validate. Kohberger's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss, asking the case be thrown out or remanded for a preliminary hearing.
As per Idaho law, defendants have to present an alibi defense to the court within ten days of a written demand from the prosecuting attorney. When that request was made in this case in May by the Latah County prosecutor, Kohberger's defense team appealed for an extension because they did not have sufficient time to review the prosecution's evidence.
Who is Bryan Kohberger's alibi?
Kohberger's attorney, Anne Taylor, wrote in a notice filed on Monday evening that her client would be invoking his constitutional right to silence and would not be submitting an alibi defense. 'Mr Kohberger’s defense team continues investigating and preparing [sic] his case", she wrote according to Daily Mail. "Evidence corroborating Mr. Kohberger being at a location other than the King Road address will be disclosed pursuant to discovery and evidentiary rules as well as statutory requirements."
There has been speculation that Kohberger's defense may have additional evidence that has not yet been provided to the court. "It is anticipated this evidence may be offered by way of cross-examination of witnesses produced by the State as well as calling expert witnesses", Taylor added.
Kohberger's team filed a separate defense last week
Kohberger's team filed a separate defense the previous week where they suggested that DNA linking him to the knife sheath may have been planted. "What the State's argument asks this Court and Mr Kohberger to assume is that the DNA on the sheath was placed there by Mr Kohberger, and not someone else during an investigation that spans hundreds of members of law enforcement and apparently at least one lab the State refuses to name", they wrote. The defense also wanted more details on how the FBI used the DNA to create family trees that led them to Kohberger in the first place.
