The legal team of Idaho quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger has alleged that he had a habit of “driving alone at night” and did so the night of the murders.
The 28-year-old is accused of fatally stabbing students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at their home in Moscow, Idaho, in the early hours of November 13 last year .
His trial is currently scheduled for October and prosecutors have said they would seek the death penalty, also recently filing a motion to force him to reveal an alibi.
In a new motion filed by his defense after the state asked him for an alibi, his lawyers said, “Mr. Kohberger has long had a habit of riding alone.
He often drove at night. He did so late on November 12 and until November 13, 2022.”
Kohberger’s legal team has said he had a habit of taking car rides alone and he did so on the night of the murders. He is pictured here on June 27.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing college students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at their home in Moscow, Idaho
The motion continues: “Mr. Kohberger does not claim to be at a specific location at a specific time.
“At this time there is no specific witness who can say exactly where Mr. Kohberger was at any time of the hours between late night November 12 and early morning November 13.”
It also reads, “Confirmation that Bryan Kohberger is NOT in 1122 King may be brought forward by cross-examination of the state’s witnesses.
“At this point, Mr. Kohberger can’t be more specific about the possible witnesses and what exactly they will say.”
Prior to the new motion, his defense filed a motion to dismiss the case, demanding that the case be dismissed or referred back for a preliminary hearing.
His legal team also filed a request to stop the proceedings without waiving his right to a speedy trial in an attempt to challenge the jury’s selection process.
Both groups of lawyers filed motions demanding that the evidence be sealed during the trial and not be passed on to the public.
Idaho law stipulates that suspects must submit an alibi defense to the court within ten days of receiving a written summons from the public prosecutor.
Kohberger’s defense filed a motion to dismiss, demanding that the case be dismissed or referred back for a preliminary hearing
Kohberger was apprehended by Indiana State Police on Dec. 15 — but police had no information that he was a suspect in the student murders
Police bodycam footage captured the moment Kohberger’s sedan was stopped on I-70 outside Indianapolis last December following the killings.
Idaho police had first requested information about a white Hyundai Elantra a week before the traffic control.
Kohberger was finally arrested on December 30 at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
Last month, his team filed a separate defense suggesting that DNA may have been planted that linked him to the knife sheath.
They wrote: “What the state’s argument is asking this Court and Mr. Kohberger to assume is that the DNA on the sheath was placed there by Mr. Kohberger, and not by anyone else during an investigation that included hundreds of members. of law enforcement and apparently at the same time. at least one lab the state refuses to name.”
A criminal affidavit filed in January, shortly after Kohberger was arrested, says DNA matching that of the suspect was found on a knife scabbard recovered from the crime scene, close to the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves.
The house in Moscow, Idaho, where Kohberger allegedly slaughtered four students
Investigators later closely compared the DNA on the sheath with DNA found in trash taken from Kohberger’s parents’ home in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested in December.
Sources say the scabbard found at the scene belonged to a seven-inch knife, traditionally used as a hunting tool for chopping firewood or cutting wire and rope. That knife has not been found.
Kohberger is scheduled to stand trial on October 2.