As Brian Coberger's trial date approaches the stinging death of four University of Idaho students, new evidence and legal positioning continue to evolve as parties gain the pace of court applications.
The defense not only asks courts to restrict the use of the word “murder” in trials, but also ban terms such as psychopaths, sociopaths and even references to “bushy eyebrows.” They also don't want to allow judges to display too many crime scene photos in front of a ju judge, as the scary images can become “inflammatory.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors have called for a halt to defend themselves, referring to the state's intention to seek the death penalty if convicted of “attempt to kill” the accused.
As this could be one of the more consequential claims, Coberger's defense asked the court to abandon the possibility of death penalty, citing prosecutors to disclose their findings too long.
The filings were made public as part of many documents not sealed by an ADA County judge who is currently overseeing the case.
Shannon Gray, a lawyer for the family of 21-year-old victim Kaylee Goncalves, said he could not share his opinion on the filing himself due to a long-standing gag order regarding the case, but he condemned the lack of communication between the authorities and his clients.
“It is unacceptable that the Rata County prosecutor did not notify the victim's family of the motions filed,” he told Fox News Digital. “As we have mentioned before, communication from their office to Goncalves' family is poor to say the least.”
Kohberger's lawyer Anne Taylor refused some prior attempts to remove the death penalty from the table, but she noted that convicted multimurder Lori Vallow had successfully made a similar argument in her own Idaho case.
“This court commented in other cases relating to Kohberger's trial setting and discovery and motions regarding expert opinions. The LoriVallow case can be distinguished because it had not waived its right to expedited trial,” Taylor wrote. “But in this case it's the court that repeatedly tells all lawyers and Mr. Coberger that the trial date is set to stone and that everyone needs to go by July 30, 2025.”
Kohberger waived his right to speedy trial and has been held without bail since his arrest on December 30, 2022. However, Taylor argued that it would take another three years to review and understand the digital evidence alone.
The trial is scheduled to begin in August.
“I think the move to eliminate the death penalty for findings may have a legitimate tooth,” Boise-based defense attorney Edwina Elcox said he was representing Vallow. “I think Judge Hippler will keep them on a trial schedule unless it becomes virtually impossible to do so. If the defensive motion is accurate, then it definitely doesn't think the court is sympathetic to the prosecutor.”
A New York City judge restricted the use of the word “murder” at Daniel Penney's trial last year for Jordan Neely's death. However, Penny was not charged with murder. He was charged with manslaughter, and criminally committed negligent murder due to Neely's unintentional death – and later acquitted.
Kohberger is accused of four counts of first-degree murder. The defense has not opposed to using words in documents or in ju judge directions, but his lawyers have asked the court to block “murder,” “murderer,” “murder,” “murder weapon,” and other variations if specifically applied “murder,” “murder,” or other variations.
“To label Mr. Kohberger as a 'murderer', we deny the right to a fair trial and deny the presumed innocent right to a trial to alleging that either the empty sheath and the weapon suspected to be consistent with the 'murder weapon', or that any of the four deceaseds were “killed” by Kohberger.”
Furthermore, according to Taylor, using words like “psychopath” and “sociopath” to refer to suspected quadruple murders would be “name call” and would be “unfairly prejudiced.”
“Murder is a legal term and the crime is being charged, so there is no basis to rule it out,” said Nima Ramani, a Los Angeles-based trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor who follows the case. “The psychopaths and sociopaths are different and potentially inflammatory, so judges can rule out those conditions, at least in the guilt stage. “Bulbulous brows” were part of the roommate's description, so it should be in.” ”
Taylor is also trying to curb at least some crime scene photos, police body cams and images of victim autopsies.
Photos inside the house are expected to depict horrifying scenes due to the nature of the crime.
Goncalves, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin were all stabbed multiple times.
Goncalves' father, Steve Goncalves, told Fox News Digital after the attack that his daughter's wounds contained “tears” and “a big open gouge.”
Rata County Coroner Kathy Mabhutt said that the people who attacked them appeared to use the same knife for each victim.
“To inflict those injuries and kill the four of them, it had to be a really big knife,” she said before Kohberger was identified as a suspect.
Investigators discovered a Ka-bar knife sheath beneath Morgen's body. A return of the search warrant indicates that police confiscated the knife as part of the investigation, but it is unclear whether it is believed to be a suspected murder weapon.
There are also body cam videos from police who enter their homes, as well as 3D models created by the FBI.
“Crime scene photos can appear unless they're overly cumulative,” Ramani said. “We're talking about a horrible quadruple murder, and it's important evidence of this incident.”
Taylor argued that repeating similarly horrifying images is unfairly prejudiced and could violate Coberger's right to a fair trial.
Lata County Judge John Judge, who oversaw the lawsuit before allowing the venue to change, entered a plea for Coberger in May 2023, in place of his arrest.
The suspect faces four counts of first-degree murder and felony robbery charges, and could face executions by firing a squad if convicted.
New judge, Stephen Hippler of Ada County, is scheduled for a motion hearing in April.
