BOISE, Idaho — Lawyers argued during a motions hearing Wednesday over key issues that will shape the trial of the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, as the defense also teased the possibility of an "alternate suspect" in the murders.
"We came across a tip that would appear to be an alternate suspect," Anne Taylor, the lead attorney for defendant Bryan Kohberger, said toward the end of the daylong hearing in Boise. "And we're trying to work through that as rapidly as we can."
Taylor mentioned the tip as she complained about the large amount of discovery in the case and argued that the death penalty should be struck as punishment "to be fair" to Kohberger if he is found guilty at his planned August trial. Ada County Judge Steven Hippler said he would set a May deadline for the defense to present evidence of an alternate suspect.
Prosecutors and the defense team for Kohberger, 30, have clashed in court filings over what should be admissible, sharing new information that has filled in some gaps since the killings in late 2022 stunned the college town of Moscow. A sweeping gag order in the wake of the students' deaths has prevented many attached to the case from speaking publicly.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing housemates Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Xana Kernodle, 20; as well as Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, with a large fixed-blade knife at an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022.
Latah County prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
Among the revelations in recent weeks is that Kohberger has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. His lawyers wrote that his autism has "significant impact on his daily life" and that jurors may unfairly scrutinize his reactions in court as he maintains a "flat affect" and "does not show emotion on his face," among other attributes.
"Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," his legal team argued in calling for the death penalty to be stricken as a sentencing option. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability."
Prosecutors responded in a filing that Kohberger was shown to be diagnosed with the least severe form of autism that comes "without accompanying intellectual or language impairment."
At Wednesday's hearing, Kohberger sat flanked by his lawyers, dressed in a blue button-down shirt.
The court did not immediately take up whether the death penalty could be removed from the punishment phase completely, but prosecutors agreed that they would not bring up Kohberger's autism diagnosis as an "aggravator" to bolster why he deserves the death penalty.
"We have much better evidence" for aggravating factors during the penalty phase, prosecutor Jeff Nye said.
Experts have said challenging the death penalty can be difficult in Idaho, where the law does not allow defendants to mount insanity defenses in criminal cases.
But defendants in other high-profile trials have been successful in getting the death penalty dismissed, including "doomsday mom" Lori Vallow, who was convicted in 2023 in the deaths of her two children and her husband's first wife. A judge removed the death penalty in her case because of late disclosure of evidence by state prosecutors.
Idaho has not executed anyone since 2012. Legislators legalized death by firing squad as an option in 2023 amid a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
Prosecutors revealed Wednesday they intend to call "a few" of Kohberger's family members at trial for "certain purposes."
His defense said his immediate family, who lives in Pennsylvania, would be at his hearings regularly if not for the distance and the cost of traveling.
"I can only imagine that the family of Mr. Kohberger is devastated by these things. It's nothing that they did, and their ability to be here to see the trial is important," Hippler said.
Throughout the hearing, prosecutors and the defense also sparred over descriptions of Kohberger that they want avoided at trial.
Hippler agreed with the defense that the terms "sociopath" and "psychopath" should not be used to describe Kohberger in court, since he has received no formal diagnosis, but left the door open for the word "murderer" to be used.
Prosecutors at trial intend to show a smiling selfie of Kohberger, which they say was taken roughly six hours after the students were killed, to help jurors determine whether he has "bushy eyebrows."
That facial feature was provided to police by one of two housemates who survived the night of the killings and said she saw a masked intruder dressed in black walking past her.
But Kohberger's defense team said Wednesday that it wants to exclude any evidence referring to "bushy eyebrows," arguing it would be "unfairly prejudicial" to jurors.
Taylor said the roommate who used the term "bushy eyebrows" told investigators she had been drinking since the morning and that she had been intoxicated and was sleepy at the time she saw the intruder.
Prosecutors said that the roommate's descriptions of the intruder were consistent and that her use of the term "bushy eyebrows" is relevant.
Hippler, however, declined to immediately rule on the use of the phrase.
He also said he would take time before he rules on other motions, including whether text messages between the surviving roommates at the time of the killings and audio from a 911 call made about eight hours later are hearsay.
The texts highlight a chaotic early morning in which the two roommates tried unsuccessfully to call the others, who were on separate floors of the home.
"I'm so freaked out," one of them wrote.
The defense said in a filing that the messages the prosecution wants to include are selective and that the surviving roommates were also on social media and "were not asleep for 8 hours," according to phone records.
Hippler also did not immediately rule on another potential element of the trial: a 3-D model of the victims' home that prosecutors want to introduce.
While prosecutors said Wednesday using the FBI-built model would help jurors understand the layout of the crime scene during testimony, Taylor questioned whether the structure would be accurate to the home since it would not include furniture and other real-life details.
The defense had said in court filings that there is "no connection" between Kohberger and the students and that other men's DNA was also found at the scene.
Authorities say that DNA was found on a knife sheath located on a bed next to Mogen's body and that it is a statistical match to Kohberger's.
Prosecutors said in recent court documents that Kohberger also purchased a Ka-Bar knife from Amazon eight months before the murders and that it was the same type of knife sheath found in the home. The murder weapon had not been recovered, Moscow police have said.
After Wednesday's hearing, Steve Goncalves, the father of Kaylee Goncalves, downplayed the defense's "alternate suspect" tip.
"The new strategy is going to be what if it's this guy, what if it's a neighbor, what if it's that guy," he said. "So it's just more signs of desperation."
Shanshan Dong reported from Boise and Erik Ortiz from New York.
