BOISEY, Idaho – Bookers say Brian Coberger’s defense team will claim at a murder trial that someone else was able to plant Coberger’s DNA in the home where four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022.
Rata County Prosecutor Bill Thompson filed a claim in the allegations filed this week.
“Instead of challenging the conclusion that the DNA of the knife sheath belongs to the defendant, the disclosure of defense experts reveals the disclosure of defense experts that the DNA on the knife sheath does not prove that the defendant is at the scene of the crime, and that the knife sheath itself may have been planted by the real perpetrator.
As many of the court documents detailing the plans of expert witnesses on both sides are sealed, it is currently impossible to compare Thompson’s characterization of defense plans against the defense team’s own court declarations.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Zana Carnordal, Madison Morgen and Kayley Goncalves, students killed in a rental home near a campus in Moscow, Idaho in the early hours of November 13, 2022.
When asked to enter a petition last year, Coberger was silent and urged to enter an innocent petition on behalf of the judge. Prosecutors say Kohberger will seek the death penalty if convicted.
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Prosecutors say it was taken into DNA collected from Kohberger using research genetic genealogy or IGG technology, consistent with “touch DNA” in a knife sheath nearby one of the victims. Defence counsel Anne Taylor pushed the genetic genealogy of the investigation to be removed from the case, but 4th District Judge Stephen Hippler denied the request last month.
Still, the prosecutor says they are not going to refer to IGG’s evidence during trial, and instead tells the ju judge that “chip” led them to Kohberger as suspects.
Kohberger’s trial is expected to begin on August 11th and is expected to last for more than three months.
By Rebecca Boone
