As Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger’s trial approaches, his defense is drawing comparisons to another high-profile case that rocked the state, the murder trial of “cult mom” Lori Vallow, who, along with her fifth husband, killed her two children and his ex-wife in 2019.
She’s scheduled to go on trial for two additional homicides in Arizona, the murders of her ex-husband Charles Vallow and a man named Brandon Boudreaux, who had been married to her niece.
Kohberger, accused of massacring four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion in November 2022, asked a Boise judge to punish prosecutors for their handling of discovery in his case.
IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER IN COURT AS DEFENSE CHALLENGES PROSECUTION METHODS
The University of Idaho victims were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four died of multiple stab wounds.
Police said they found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body with DNA on it that led them to arrest Kohberger at his parents’ house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He was a Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University at the time of the slayings.
The school is a 10-minute drive from the site of the crime.
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“Kohberger’s defense team is going to try every way possible to get the death penalty off the table,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented Vallow. “To accomplish that would be a massive win. But, at this stage, I do not think the defense’s arguments regarding discovery will accomplish that. However, they are clearly paving the way to raise this in the future. “
She said she could not comment on Vallow specifically due to their past attorney-client relationship.
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Kohberger’s defense last month asked for sanctions against the prosecution. Defense lawyers did not ask for those sanctions to include striking the death penalty, but, down the line, they could ask for more.
“There’s a strategic reason the defense is doing this. If the judge agrees that the prosecution hasn’t complied with its discovery obligations, he can sanction the prosecution, and one of those sanctions may be taking the death penalty off the table,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who first noted the Vallow sanction earlier this month, when Kohberger’s defense asked the judge to punish prosecutors for delays.
Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted, but in Vallow’s Idaho murder trial, capital punishment was taken off the table after prosecutors missed a deadline.
BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE WANTS PROSECUTION PUNISHED OVER DELAYS
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“That’s what happened in the recent Lori Vallow doomsday ‘cult mom’ case in Idaho,” Rahmani said. “The judge in that case removed the death penalty because of the prosecution’s delay in turning over evidence. Saving Kohberger’s life would be a huge win for the defense.”
The defense only needs to convince one juror of reasonable doubt to upend the case, said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney who is also following the case closely.
“Vallow uses reasonable doubt perfectly and keeps hounding that nobody can place her there,” he said. “The Kohberger attorneys are doing the same thing.”
Kohberger has been in court multiple times this week and is due back later Friday as he seeks to have key evidence tossed. His lawyers have also accused prosecutors of repeated delays in the discovery process.
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“The bulk of the State’s expert disclosures fail to include opinions and reports. These inadequate disclosures greatly prejudice Mr. Kohberger who is obligated to submit defense guilt phase expert disclosures by January 23, 2025,” Kohberger defense lawyers Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth wrote in a court filing in late December.
The sanctions considered must be the exclusion of the experts or, at a bare minimum, an order compelling proper disclosure and an extension of Mr. Kohberger’s January 23, 2025 deadline.”
Without the disclosures, they argued, they have no idea what expert evidence to prepare to fight in court.
“In a perfect world, they would have had everything by now, but this case is so big that there’s always more discovery that comes up,” Gelman said.
Judge Steven Hippler on Wednesday denied a defense motion to unseal documents related to some of the disputed DNA evidence in the case, agreeing with prosecutors that letting it out before trial could potentially influence the jury pool.
“The best defense is a good offense, and I’m not surprised Kohberger’s team is aggressively going after the prosecution,” Rahmani said. “Discovery is one way in criminal cases, which means the state has to turn over all of its evidence, including expert witness reports.”
Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted. He faces four charges of first-degree murder and another of felony burglary.
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