Attorneys for Idaho student murder suspect Brian Koberger asked a Boise judge to “sanction'' prosecutors over what the defense team called “improper disclosure'' during the discovery process. As a remedy, it seeks to remove expert witnesses from the case.
“The vast majority of the State’s expert disclosures do not include opinions or reports. These inadequate disclosures will require the defense to file a guilty-phase expert disclosure by January 23, 2025.” “This is a significant disadvantage to Mr. Kohberger, who has a duty to do so,” said Kohberger attorneys Ann Taylor, Jay Logsdon, and Elisa. Masos wrote in a court filing. “The sanction being considered should be removal of the expert or at least an order compelling appropriate disclosure and an extension of Mr. Koberger's deadline of January 23, 2025.”
Without disclosure, they argued, they had no idea what kind of expert evidence they could prepare to fight the case in court.
Idaho murder case: Brian Koberger investigates another home invasion before campus murder
Brian Koberger during a hearing at the Rutter County Courthouse on August 18, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (August Frank/Poole, via Reuters)
Prosecutors disclosed 25 expert witnesses, but Koberger's defense said they had only received five expert reports, none of which involved DNA.
“This is a heinous murder case, about which nothing is clear,” the lawyers wrote. “Expert issues are complex, including DNA, cell phone data, cell tower coverage and driving tests, vehicle identification, crime scene and blood spatter analysis, fingerprint analysis, forensic pathology, suspect and victim There are various aspects involved, such as electronic device analysis, and alternative suspects, and social media accounts.”
Idaho prosecutors dismiss multiple attacks on Brian Koberger's search warrants
Saving Koberger's life would be a big win for the defense.
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Koberger's team also had a deadline to make its own disclosure today.
“They have a point,” said David Gelman, a former prosecutor's defense attorney based in New Jersey who has followed the case. “If they violate 'Brady,' which means they have to submit all the evidence, and they shouldn't, but they have to, it doesn't matter whether they feel it's not important or not. ”
Brian Koberger (Fox News Digital Image Direct/File)
However, it is not as simple as achieving everything the defender requires.
“You can't sanction a state if it doesn't have ownership or the evidence simply doesn't exist and the defense just wants it,” he said. “What are you going to do by letting them find it out of thin air? But if the state has it and hasn't provided it yet, especially since this problem has been around for over a year, what's the point of having to pay? It’s hell.”
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Neema Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who is also following the case, said the court could impose harsher sanctions in the future than the defense has already sought.
“There are strategic reasons for the defense to do this. If the judge agrees that the prosecution has not complied with its disclosure obligations, it can impose sanctions on the prosecution,” he said. . “And one of those sanctions could be to take the death penalty off the table.”
Madison Morgen, top left, poses with Ethan Chapin, Zana Karnodle and two other housemates in Gonsalves' last Instagram post, which was shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. , smiling on the shoulder of her best friend Kaylee Gonsalves. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
This is not the first time something like this has happened in the high-profile Idaho case involving multiple murder victims.
“That's what happened recently in the Lori Vallow doomsday cult mom case in Idaho,” Rahmani said. “The judge in this case vacated the death penalty, citing delays in the prosecution's presentation of evidence. Saving Mr. Koberger's life would be a major victory for the defense.”
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Koberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony robbery in connection with the November 2022 stabbings of four University of Idaho students.
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Madison Morgen, 21, Kaylee Gonsalves, 21, Zana Karnodol, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were arrested at 4 a.m. in a six-bedroom home just off campus. He was killed in a home invasion attack.
Two of the housemates survived, one of whom told police that he heard a struggle and saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” coming out the back door.
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At the time of the murder, Koberger was studying for his Ph.D. in criminology from nearby Washington State University, about 10 miles across the state line.
