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DNA evidence will be submitted at Bryan Kohberger’s high-profile murder trial despite his defense team’s best efforts.
On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, Ada County Judge Steven Hippler rejected several motions filed on behalf of the 30-year-old quadruple murder suspect, as stated in a 29-page decision filed with Idaho’s Fourth District Court and reviewed by Oxygen. It comes as a response to a flurry of motions by the defense, which sought to suppress, not just DNA, but digital and electronic evidence that included Kohberger’s cell phone and email data, Amazon purchases, and more, according to NBC News.
All motions were denied.
“The Kohberger defense team had made a very aggressive, very creative attack all the way across the evidence,” said former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy, according to CBS Spokane, Washington, affiliate KREM.
The judge denies motions to exclude DNA evidence and more
The defense initially argued that “law enforcement violated [Kohberger’s] constitutional rights” to privacy when conducting an “IGG” (investigative genetic genealogy) inquiry and “trash pull” as part of their ongoing murder investigation.
There was much focus on the use of IGG when used for DNA discovered on a Ka-Bar knife sheath found on a bed near the bodies of Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Following the November 13, 2022 murders, prosecutors say the Washington State University criminology student drove cross-country from Pullman, Washington to his parents’ Monroe County, Pennsylvania home. There, investigators conducted a “warrantless trash pull” after local trash collectors took the bins’ contents.
DNA belonging to Kohberger’s father was found as part of the trash pull and was genetically linked to the sheath. DNA on the sheath was a “statistical match” to a sample collected during a cheek swab on Kohberger.
A suppression hearing took place on January 23, 2025, featuring statements from law enforcement and IGG experts. Ultimately, Judge Hippler found Kohberger had no reasonable expectation of privacy (as afforded per his Fourth Amendment rights) because the physical evidence was “knowingly exposed” when left on the sheath.
“The State denies that the testing of DNA from the sheath was a search, pointing out the DNA was lawfully seized evidence from the scene of the crime,” the ruling stated. “The State further contends that [Kohberger] has not demonstrated he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in this DNA because he abandoned it and/or because he has not shown the existence of a reasonable privacy interest society is willing to recognize.”
The judge rejects additional motions
Furthermore, Judge Hippler denied requests to block digital evidence from being presented at trial, citing the Third-Party Doctrine, which states people sharing information with third-party hosts (such as banks) can be subjected to governmental examination without a warrant. The defense also failed to have electronic evidence, such as AT&T, Google, and Apple records, suppressed from the court, according to KREM.
They also failed to secure a Franks hearing, a legal proceeding reserved for defendants who wish to openly accuse law enforcement of taking underhanded measures to obtain a search warrant.
The defense opined investigators “intentionally or recklessly misrepresented material facts in their probable cause affidavits for search warrant applications,” according to NBC News, including statements made by the victims’ roommate.
Kohberger and his team will not have a shot at the special hearing.
Former A.G. Leroy said, “This is set up for a clean, fair, vigorous trial, and I’m most hopeful that we can find an objective jury who has not made up its mind,” according to KREM.
What is Bryan Kohberger accused of?
Kohberger stands accused of brutally stabbing University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 21, on November 13, 2022, at their off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho, just east of the Washington state border and about 80 miles south of Spokane. Two other residents slept on a different floor and were not targeted in the early-morning attack.
Kohberger denied killing the victims and is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. He faces the death penalty if convicted of the crimes.
In light of Judge Hippler’s recent decision, the Goncalves family released a statement on their Facebook page.
“Praise the Lord! All the motions to suppress and Franks motion have been denied! It’s always a double edge sword waiting,” they stated. “You want the right decisions to be made but you also want them to be made quickly. We are thankful to the Court for a timely decision and appreciate the work prosecution has put in thus far. In the big picture of life justice is just moments away.”
The murder trial is slated to begin on August 11, 2025.
