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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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A judge has allowed investigators working on behalf of the man charged in the murders of four University of Idaho students to review sealed DNA records police used to narrow down the pool of suspects.
Bryan Kohberger, 29, is charged with four counts of murder and one count of burglary regarding the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in a rental home near the college campus in Moscow on November 13, 2022.
Kohberger, then a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested about six weeks after the killings at his parents' home in Pennsylvania. Investigators said they had linked Kohberger to the crime using DNA evidence, cellphone data and surveillance video.
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The judge entered not-guilty pleas on Kohberger's behalf last year, but a trial date has yet to be set. That could soon change, as Judge 2nd District Judge John Judge has now scheduled a June 27 hearing to discuss the schedule for the case, including dates for the trial. Kohberger faces the death penalty if convicted.
In an order on June 7 following a closed-door hearing last month, the judge said Kohberger and his attorneys, as well as experts and investigators working for Kohberger's defense team, will be allowed to review sealed DNA records provided by prosecutors in the case.
The DNA was used for investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), a process where material found at a crime scene is put through public genealogical databases in order to identify a suspect or their relatives.
"Any further dissemination of the materials or the information contained within the materials must first be approved by the Court after a showing by the defense as to why such individual needs the information for the preparation of the defense," the order said.
The order also said the defense team is not allowed to contact any relative who shows up in the records who was not already known to them without "prior authorization from the Court after a showing as to why such contact is necessary and material to the preparation of the defense."
"The defense's mitigation expert, who has created her own family tree and who does not have access to any of the IGG information, may continue her mitigation investigation, including contacting Defendant's immediate family members and other related individuals," the order added.
Prosecutors acknowledged months after Kohberger's arrest that IGG had initially led investigators to him. But Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson argued that the IGG evidence should not be turned over as it was not used to obtain any warrants and would not be presented at trial.
Kohberger's public defender Anne Taylor argued that the defense needs to see all the DNA evidence in the case to understand how and when police began to focus on Kohberger as a suspect, and to better prepare their arguments.
The judge ruled last year that Kohberger's attorneys had shown that they needed to review at least some of the IGG records as they prepared his defense.
A gag order imposed in the case bars the prosecution, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials and others involved in the case from discussing it.
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