The accused murderer's public defender, Anne Taylor, filed a motion to compel discovery in Latah County Court last week, claiming that prosecutors have yet to turn over crucial evidence that she believes could help her client in the case.
Bryan Kohberger wants to see the video footage from his arrest, notes from his interrogations, and details about how police tested DNA found at the scene of the University of Idaho murders.
The accused murderer's public defender, Anne Taylor, filed a motion to compel discovery in Latah County Court last week.
In her motion, Taylor writes that despite filing two supplemental requests for discovery, prosecutors have yet to turn over crucial evidence in the case, including reports, notes, recordings, and photos that she believes "contain exculpatory evidence."
The defense team is now asking the judge to step in and compel prosecutors to turn over these items, many of which they say were included in the first request for discovery filed back on Feb. 3.
The evidence defense counsel believes could prove Kohberger is not guilty was part of the defense's second request for discovery, filed on March 24.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students: Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Kohberger has entered a plea of not guilty to all four murders.
BRYAN KOHBERGER MOTION TO COMPEL
In total, there are seven items that the defense is asking prosecutors to turn over, all of which had previously been requested during the discovery process, according to the court filing obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
These items include:
- All body cam and dash cam footage from officers involved in the search and arrest of Kohberger in Pennsylvania.
- Copies of lab reports detailing the forensic evidence collection and analysis of items recovered at Bryan Kohberger's parents' home, trash cans and other receptacles, and Kohberger's Hyundai Elantra.
- All lab testing.
- All recordings and notes from the interrogation of Mr. Kohberger by Detective Brett Payne of the Moscow Police Department.
- All police reports, audio/video evidence, and any recorded statements related to Kohberger's arrest and incarceration in Pennsylvania.
- Training records for multiple officers, whose names have been redacted from the filing.
- All reports, notes, recordings and photos from a redacted event, which contain exculpatory evidence according to Kohberger's lawyer.
The judge has yet to respond to the motion, which was filed on Thursday. The defense team is requesting a 10-minute hearing on the matter before the preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for the last week of June.
A hearing has already been scheduled for later this month to address two requests to lift the gag order on the case.
The first challenge comes from Shanon Gray, the lawyer representing the Goncalves family. The second comes from over 25 news organizations.
Kohberger and his legal team previously stated in court filings that the gag order in the case should stay in place, arguing that it would make it harder for the murder suspect to get a fair trial.
BRYAN KOHBERGER THIRD REQUEST FOR DISCOVERY
The University of Idaho murders received national attention ever since the bodies of four students were found dead in a house just off the school’s Moscow campus.
Interest in the case then grew during the six weeks it took police to arrest Kohberger. He was apprehended in the early morning hours of Dec. 30 at his childhood home in Pennsylvania.
Officers secured a warrant to arrest the suspect after they say a lab matched DNA found in trash pulled from Kohberger’s home to DNA found on a knife sheath discovered at the murder scene.
A preliminary hearing in the murder trial will get underway on June 23, and is expected to last that entire week.
Kohberger had previously told the public defender assigned to handle his extradition from Pennsylvania to Idaho that he expects to be exonerated of all charges at trial.
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