IDAHO, USA — Bryan Kohberger's defense team is challenging evidence in new court filings that they claim was not properly obtained by police during the December 2022 raid of his parent's home in Chesnuthill Township.
Last week marked two years since Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves were found stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger, who was a graduate student at a nearby university at the time, is accused of murdering the four college students.
He was taken into custody on December 30th, 2022, at his parent's home in the Poconos.
Law enforcement collected DNA from outside that home a few days prior to his arrest. Prosecutors say the DNA taken from the trash matched Kohberger's father, and that sample matched the father of the person whose DNA was found on a knife sheath at the crime scene.
Kohberger's defense wants that evidence thrown out, claiming it was illegally gathered.
His lawyers argue that without the genetic DNA evidence, investigators would not have been able to request Kohberger's cell phone records.
His lawyers also challenged search warrants for Kohberger's car, a white Hyundai Elantra, as well as his Apple and Amazon accounts, claiming the warrants lacked probable cause.
The motions also revealed new details about the night of his arrest.
Kohberger's defense team says during the raid on his parent's home, law enforcement allegedly broke the front door, shattered a sliding glass door in the basement, and held the entire family at gunpoint.
It was then his lawyers argued that while his hands were zip-tied and he was surrounded by police, Kohberger made statements to arresting officers despite not having his rights read to him.
His lawyers also asked for those statements to be thrown out.
Bryan Kohberger's trial is set to begin next August in Boise, Idaho.
A judge is still deciding on the defense's request to take the death penalty off the table.
Kohbeger's defense team says potentially waiting decades on death row could carry fear and anxiety that may constitute cruel and unusual punishment violating Kohberger's rights.