As the trial of Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the Idaho student killings, gets closer, his defense team is comparing his case to another well-known trial in the state. This involves Lori Vallow, often called “cult mom,” who, along with her fifth husband, murdered her two children and his ex-wife in 2019.
She is set to stand trial in Arizona for two more murders: her ex-husband Charles Vallow and a man named Brandon Boudreaux, who was married to her sister.
Kohberger, accused of massacring four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion in November 2022, asked a Boise judge to punish prosecutors for their handling of information in his case.
The victims from the University of Idaho were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four were killed by several stab wounds.
Police discovered a Ka-Bar knife sheath with DNA under Mogen’s body. This evidence led to the arrest of Kohberger at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He was a Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University when the murders happened.
The school is a 10-minute drive away from where the crime happened.
“Kohberger’s defense team will do everything they can to prevent the death penalty,” said Edwina Elcox, a defense attorney from Boise who used to defend Vallow. “Achieving that would be a big success.” Right now, I don’t believe the defense’s points about finding will achieve that. They are preparing to bring this up in the future.
She said she couldn’t talk about Vallow because they used to be attorneys and customer.
Last month, Kohberger’s defense requested penalties against the government. Defense lawyers didn’t request to remove the death sentence this time, but they might ask for more changes later.
“The defense has a plan for doing this.” “If the judge finds that the prosecution hasn’t followed the rules about sharing evidence, he can punish them. One possible punishment is to remove the option of the death penalty,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor. He mentioned this earlier this month when Kohberger’s defense asked the judge to take action against the prosecutors for their delays.
Kohberger might get the death sentence if found guilty. However, in Vallow’s murder trial in Idaho, the possibility of the death penalty was removed because prosecutors missed a deadline.
“That’s what occurred in the recent Lori Vallow doomsday ‘cult mom’ case in Idaho,” said Rahmani. The judge in that case eliminated the death sentence because the prosecution was slow to provide evidence. Keeping Kohberger alive would be a significant success for his defense team.
David Gelman, a defense attorney from New Jersey who is closely watching the case, said that the defense only needs to sway one jury to create reasonable doubt and potentially change the outcome.
“Vallow uses the idea of reasonable doubt well and keeps insisting that no one can prove she was there,” he said. “The lawyers for Kohberger are doing the same.”
Kohberger has appeared in court several times this week and will return later on Friday to try to get important evidence thrown out. His lawyers have claimed that authorities keep delaying the discovery process.
Most of the State’s expert disclosures do not include views and reports. In a court document from late December, Mr. Kohberger’s defense lawyers, Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon, and Elisa Massoth, stated that the lack of proper information really harms Mr. Kohberger. They said he needs to provide expert evidence for his defense by January 23, 2025.
The proposed penalties include removing the experts or, at the very least, requiring them to share all necessary information and extending Mr. Kohberger’s deadline to January 23, 2025.
They claimed that without the information, they don’t know what expert evidence they need to prepare for court.
“In an ideal situation, they would have everything by now, but this case is so large that new information keeps coming to light,” Gelman said.
On Wednesday, Judge Steven Hippler rejected a request from the defense to make certain papers about DNA evidence public. He agreed with the prosecutors that releasing them before the trial could affect the jury’s decisions.
“Having a strong offense is the best way to defend yourself, so I’m not surprised that Kohberger’s team is actively challenging the prosecution,” Rahmani said. “Discovery is a process in criminal cases where the state must share all its evidence, including reports from expert witnesses.”
Kohberger could get the death sentence if he is found guilty. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of illegal burglary.
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