Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers set to argue for trial delay

Accused killer Bryan Kohberger, who allegedly slaughtered four University of Idaho students, was hauled in front of a judge Friday, just six weeks before his trial is scheduled to begin — as a relative of one of the victims attended wearing a pro-firing squad t-shirt.

Kohberger, 28, appeared in a Latah County courthouse in Moscow as his attorneys and prosecutors duked it out over a slew of motions relating to the grand jury and DNA evidence ahead of an Oct. 2 trial.

The marathon hearing began with DNA expert witnesses testifying as part of Kohberger’s bid to have prosecutors turn over additional evidence related to a sample taken from a knife sheath found at the bloody slayings’ scene that prosecutors will use to link him to the crime.

Lawyers for Kohberger, 28, also readied their argument for putting the case on hold in order to investigate concerns a “failure has occurred” in the jury selection process, according to court papers from July.

During an early break in the proceedings, one of the family members of victim Kaylee Goncalves was reportedly seen wearing a t-shirt promoting the firing squad death penalty — which Kohberger could face if convicted, reporter Kevin Fixler posted on X, formerly known as Twitter 

Meanwhile, prosecutors are expected to argue Kohberger’s team needs to inform them about any alibi witness or evidence they may present at trial — after Kohberger’s lawyers claimed he couldn’t be the killer since he was on a late-night solo drive when the brutal stabbings occurred.

Kohberger’s defense lawyer Ann Taylor has said her client had a habit of going on drives alone at night and “he did so late on November 12 and into November 13, 2022.”

Kohberger, who was pursuing a graduate degree in criminology at the nearby Washington State University, was indicted in May on charges of murdering students Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin inside a rental house near the Moscow campus in the early hours of Nov. 13.

He’s accused of breaking into a rental house and stabbing the four victims — three of whom lived there and the fourth, Chapin, who was there because he was Kernodie’s boyfriend.

Two other young women who lived in the house were also there at the time of the murders but were unharmed.

Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson has said he plans to pursue the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted at trial.