Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers are trying to save his life but pinning the grisly slayings of four University of Idaho students in 2022 on someone else, a judge revealed Thursday.
Kohberger’s attorneys have already informed the judge that they believe someone else is responsible for the pre-dawn stabbings at a student house in Moscow, Idaho — the “alternative perpetrator” theory, Judge Steven Hippler revealed.
Now the judge is telling lawyers to name the suspect and offer up “any actual evidence” they have against him.
He said what defense attorneys have offered so far was “fairly objectionable in terms of admissibility.”
Hippler said that he had sealed the docs, pending his decision on whether the evidence can be presented to jurors at Kohberger’s trial in August.
Kohberger faces the possibility of death by firing squad if he is convicted of the killings.
Kohberger’s attorneys have until May 23 to come up with that evidence, and a hearing to discuss the matter was scheduled for next month.
Kohberger is accused of sneaking into a student house in November, 2022, and fatally stabbing Xana Kernodle, 20 Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Only two housemates survived. One told investigators she saw a man in a black mask and “bushy eyebrows” leaving through the back door – a man prosecutors say was Kohberger, then a PhD student at the nearby University of Washington.
Latah County prosecutors have constructed a 3D diorama of the murder house to help jurors get a sense of what happened, attorney Bill Thompson confirmed at Thursday’s hearing.
The model is a recreation of the six-bedroom home, which Thompson described as “unusual at best.” Prosecutors will use it to map the locations of the survivors and victims and show Kohberger’s alleged path of carnage.
Thompson described the diorama as a “dollhouse” when he first requested permission to use it, but he admitted the word “dollhouse” was inappropriate given the gravity of the situation. He referred to it as a “model house” instead.
Thus far, Kohberger’s attorneys have focused on trying to keep existing evidence against him out of the courtroom.
They have filed motions to suppress most of the evidence the prosecution plans to present, including DNA found on a bloody knife sheath at the crime scene and security camera footage of what appears to be Kohberger’s car circling the students’ house the night before the killings.
The defense also asked the judge to ban the use of words including “murder,” “murder weapon,” “psychopath,” and “bushy eyebrows,” claiming they would prejudice the jury.
