Prosecutors Demand to Know More About Kohberger's Alibi

Defense lawyers have suggested he was elsewhere when students were murdered
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2023 5:32 PM CDT
Updated Jul 28, 2023 9:52 AM CDT
Lawyers Suggest Kohberger Has Alibi
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom during a hearing Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho.   (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP, Pool)
UPDATE Jul 28, 2023 9:52 AM CDT

Prosecutors don't plan on waiting until Bryan Kohberger's trial to learn more about the alibi his defense team has suggested he has for the murder of four University of Idaho students. Idaho prosecutors filed a motion Thursday asking a judge to compel the defense team to release information on the alibi, including the location Kohberger claims to have been at and the names of potential witnesses, CNN reports. With Kohberger's trial set to begin on October 2, it is essential that the defense "be required to provide prompt notice" of alibi details so the state can respond, prosecutors wrote. In another filing this week, defense lawyers sought to have Kohberger's indictment dismissed, arguing that the grand jury was "misled as to the standard of proof required," NBC News reports.

Jul 25, 2023 5:32 PM CDT

Bryan Kohberger has declined to provide a pretrial alibi, but his defense attorneys have suggested he was somewhere else when four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death at their off-campus home last November. Kohberger is due to go on trial for the murders in October and has pleaded not guilty. "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," attorney Anne Taylor wrote in a filing Tuesday, per CNN.

The court filing didn't say where Kohberger, who was studying criminology at Washington State University before his arrest, was at the time of the murders. The filing states that Kohberger has chosen to exercise his right to remain silent in response to the state's demand for a pretrial alibi and could testify in his own defense during the trial, the Idaho Statesman reports. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if the 28-year-old is found guilty.

story continues below

Kohberger's lawyers have also suggested that DNA found on a knife sheath in the home was planted there. In a June filing, they said the state was asking them to assume "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," per CNN. The state responded that if Kohberger "wishes to explore the theory that his DNA was planted on the Ka-Bar knife sheath, he is free to do so." (The University of Idaho has agreed to delay the demolition of the murder site.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X