Idaho prosecutors reject Bryan Kohberger’s many attacks on search warrants

Idaho prosecutors have rejected a flurry of Bryan Kohberger’s motions to attack search warrants executed in connection with his arrest in the slaying of four college students, dissecting the defense’s claims and telling the judge that there was “substantial probable cause” to seize evidence from his parents’ home, his car, his devices and other places.

Latah County prosecuting attorney Bill Thompson wrote in part of the nine objections to Kohberger’s defense efforts that the warrants in question were “based on substantial probable cause.” Much of the specifics remain under seal, but prosecutors are asking the judge to reject the defense motions and allow the warrants to stand.

Last month, the defense asked Judge Steven Hippler to suppress DNA evidence, searches on Kohberger’s devices and digital accounts, his car, his person and his parent’s house. 

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Bryan Kohberger, right, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court on Sept. 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Kohberger is facing four first-degree murder charges and a felony burglary charge in connection with the early morning massacre of four University of Idaho students around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022.

Prosecutors allege he snuck into a house near the University of Idaho campus – as some of them were asleep – and killed them with a large knife. A surviving housemate told detectives she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” after overhearing crying and sounds of a struggle. 

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The victims were Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.

Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)

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Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at the nearby Washington State University, was arrested weeks later at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. 

Police found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body that prosecutors say contained Kohberger’s DNA. Kohberger drove a white Hyundai Elantra, the same type of car investigators identified as the suspect vehicle, and allegedly turned his phone off before heading to and from the crime scene, according to the affidavit. Police, citing phone records, also alleged that he stalked the victims’ home on a dozen occasions before the murders and drove by once more hours after. 

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A judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.

Prosecution’s objection to the defendant’s motion to suppress

The defense team, led by Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth, is seeking a Franks hearing, where they hope to have the warrants thrown out. They previously told the court they “firmly” believe their client is innocent.

Such hearings are rarely granted and even more rarely successful, experts tell Fox News Digital.

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“I’ve practiced law now for 52 years, and tried, actually taken to trial, to verdict, over 300 cases, and I think in my entire career, I’ve had judges grant Franks hearings three times,” said John Henry Browne, the Seattle-based defense attorney whose past clients have included the serial killer Ted Bundy. “I think two of them resulted in nothing. And the third one did result in the judge eventually throwing out the charges. But these hearings can be very productive. They can be very helpful to the defense from the standpoint of discovery.”

Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorneys Anne Taylor, left, Elisa Massoth and Jay Logsdon arrive at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, on June 27, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

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If Kohberger can prove that investigators willfully disregarded or misrepresented the truth in their warrant affidavits, that information can be thrown out of the warrants, he told Fox News Digital. On the other hand, however, even if that long-shot effort is successful, the judge will weigh whether there is enough probable cause remaining in the warrant and could find it is still valid.

Hippler previously told Kohberger’s team to re-file the motion for a Franks hearing, telling his lawyers that it was unacceptable to send him 2,000 pages of exhibits without identifying which parts were relevant to their arguments. 

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson speaks with Wendy Olson, left, and Cory Carone during a motion hearing regarding a gag order for a case against Bryan Kohberger in Latah County District Court, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)

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A closed-door hearing was held on Dec. 11. Kohberger is due back in court on Jan. 23.

He is being held without bail and could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial is scheduled to begin next year.