Defense attorneys for Idaho murder suspect Brian Koberger prove stargazing was an “addictive habit” for the suspect accused of killing four college students in November 2022. There is a need.
Attorneys for Koberger, 29, said in a recent court filing that the murder suspect had been outside that morning when Madison Morgen, 21, was stargazing. Kaylee Gonsalves, 21 years old. Zana Karnodol, 20 years old. and Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death on November 13, 2022, at his home in Moscow, a short distance from the University of Idaho campus.
“Mr. Koberger had been out in his car in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, often hiking, running, and looking at the moon and stars,” his lawyers wrote in court documents outlining his alibi. Stated. “He drove all over the area, including Wawawai Park, south of Pullman, Washington, and west of Moscow, Idaho.”
Legal experts say Mr. Koberger’s lawyers will now have to prove that his client did that on the morning of the murder.
Idaho murder suspect claims alibi: ‘I drove to see the moon and stars’
Brian Koberger’s attorney said he was stargazing in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, the day four University of Idaho students were murdered in their off-campus home. (August Frankpool/Getty Images)
“Koberger’s attorneys are filing this alibi defense now in order not to waive their right to raise a defense later. When you look at the alibi, this is a very weak defense.” Gabby Pettit’s family told Fox News Digital, Brian C. Stewart, a based litigator and attorney, told Fox News Digital. “This was apparently created to comply with known evidence from cell phone tower data that he was driving in the area at the time of the murder and why he was there alone. I tried to cloud it.”
“If you look at the alibi, it’s a very weak one.”
In a January 2023 arrest affidavit, prosecutors said four college students were killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, hours after at least 12 others were killed on King Road. He claimed that Koberger’s phone rang at the scene. The era before the murder.
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Brian Koberger was charged in Latah County, Idaho, with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony robbery. (Lutter County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators determined the phone was registered to Koberger, a former criminology doctor. A student at Washington State University in nearby Pullman was called to the crime scene around 9 a.m. that day. Additionally, prosecutors said his cellphone was turned off between 2:47 a.m. and 4:48 a.m. on Nov. 13, when the murder allegedly occurred.
All but one of the previous visits were late at night or early in the morning, according to the affidavit. Investigators tied the same phone that rang near the crime scene to a phone located “approximately 10 minutes away from the Koberger residence area.” [9] The Nov. 13 affidavit states he was “travelling to Moscow, Idaho in the morning.” “Specifically, the 8458 call utilized cellular resources providing coverage of King Road Residence between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m.,” it said.
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Workers park outside 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. The property was scheduled to be demolished after the homeowner donated it to the University of Idaho in response to the Nov. 13, 2022, murder of student Madison Morgen. 21; Kaylee Gonsalves, 21 years old. Zana Karnodol, 20 years old. and Ethan Chapin, 20, were inside the home. (Derek Schock, FOX News Digital)
Stewart said Koberger’s “unsubstantiated alibi is not unusual, but it doesn’t prove anything.”
“The defense’s intent is to try to create some sort of reasonable doubt, but Koberger’s explanation that he happened to be driving alone in the middle of the night and looking at the moon and stars… “That’s not likely. Any reasonable juror would have to pass the smell test,” the lawyer said. “It’s not reliable because it doesn’t make sense to most people.”
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David Moorhead, a Colorado-based criminal defense attorney with Moorhead Law Group, told FOX News Digital:[w]Although late-night stargazing drives are not inherently unusual, the defense will need to prove that this was a regular habit of Koberger’s. ”
Brian Koberger and his alleged victims, clockwise from top left: Madison Morgen, Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodle, and Kaylee Gonsalves. (WSU/Instagram)
“Phone data, past social media posts, or even eyewitness accounts of similar outings would greatly strengthen his alibi. But prosecutors will likely look for inconsistencies or “I would challenge this by arguing that he may have still committed a crime,” Moorhead said.
Roger V. Archibald, a New York-based criminal defense attorney, similarly told FOX News Digital:[a] A strong alibi is generally considered to involve the testimony of a reliable and disinterested witness, accompanied by time-stamped documentation of the defendant away from the scene of the crime, such as video footage, photographs, telephone or GPS records. Masu. ”
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“However, most non-criminals are unable to provide this type of reliable alibi because they may have been alone or in an undocumented location at the time of the crime,” he added. . “Thus, while Koberger’s alibi sounds unusually weak and would be viewed as such in a court of law, it is not unusual when considered in the context of his daily life.”
Segmented photos show the crime scene and the victims, including Ethan Chapin, 20, a University of Idaho student. Zana Karnodol, 20 years old. Madison Morgen, 21 years old. and Kaylee Gonsalves (21). (Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/Instagram/@kayleegoncalves)
“We have been waiting for this,” Kaylee Gonsalves’ family said in a statement posted on Facebook. [alibi] We’ve been providing information for months, and it’s finally here. ”
“At this point, we are even more confident in our case against the defendant. The defense’s argument is that the defendant was hiking, running, and stargazing in his car late at night. I don’t know why it took more than a year to do this.”It doesn’t seem like a complicated operation, so please come out,” the family said. “We believe that if this alibi had any weight, it would have been submitted months ago. We also believe that this alibi was submitted between 2:47 a.m. and 4:48 a.m. This also directly contradicts the probable cause affidavit that the phone was turned off.
“We believe that if this alibi had any weight, it would have been submitted months ago.”
“So if we have cell phone information that says the defendant was driving and was somewhere else, it would either be before or after the time the murder took place. is not an alibi. We look forward to seeing justice done in this case.” This concludes this part of the process. Thank you for your support of our family. ”
Kaylee Gonsalves, one of four University of Idaho students, was found murdered in her home near campus. (Facebook)
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The family went on to say that Koberger’s claim “is not really an alibi” because there are conflicting data on the time and location of Koberger’s cell phone being turned on.
Brian Koberger (right), who was charged with killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, with one of his attorneys, Ann Taylor (left), on September 13, 2023. Wednesday at a hearing in Lutter County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
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Authorities arrested Koberger at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania in December 2022, about a month after the murder. He is charged with four counts of murder and robbery.
His trial was originally scheduled for October 2024, but has been postponed and is now scheduled to take place by the summer of 2025 at the latest. seeking the death penalty.
FOX News’ Luis Casiano and Michael Lewis contributed to this report.
