(MOSCOW, Idaho) — University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger will be back in court on Wednesday for a high-stakes hearing to decide what evidence will be allowed at his trial, which is set to begin in August.
The judge is expected to hear arguments over what evidence should be presented to the jury, including Kohberger’s Amazon search history, witness descriptions and testimony about DNA.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle at the girls’ off-campus house in Moscow in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was sleeping over at the time.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was arrested in December 2022. He’s charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, and a not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.
Among the evidence prosecutors want to include at trial is that Kohberger’s DNA was allegedly found on a knife sheath at the murder scene.
The murder weapon was never recovered, but prosecutors allege Kohberger bought a KA-BAR knife with a sheath and a sharpener on Amazon. The defense argued anyone in the family could have made that purchase on Amazon, but prosecutors said they have a witness who will testify it was Bryan Kohberger.
The prosecution also plans on critical testimony from the two roommates who survived the murders, including one roommate who said in the middle of the night she saw a man with “bushy eyebrows” walking past her in the house.
The defense wants that description banned during trial.
The defense argues the roommate’s account lacks credibility, pointing to her phone records showing she was on social media and checking job websites the morning after the murders — hours before 911 was called.
“When it comes to evidentiary hearings, the prosecution’s goal is trying to admit as much damning evidence as possible,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said, while the defense tries “to limit how much evidence comes in that is detrimental to their case.”
The defense is also pushing for the death penalty to be taken off the table if Kohberger is convicted, citing what they say is Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder.
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