(NewsNation) —Lawyers for Idaho college killings suspect Bryan Kohberger say prosecutors need to be sanctioned over failures to hand over required expert witness disclosures putting Kohberger in a position where he will be “greatly prejudged” at trial.
“The bulk of the State’s expert disclosures fail to include opinions and reports. These inadequate disclosures greatly prejudice Mr. Kohberger who is obligated to submit defense guilt phase expert disclosures by January 23, 2025,” Kohlberger’s lawyers wrote in a December 27 legal filing.
His team is requesting that the judge exclude some of the state’s expert witnesses from testifying at trial as a sanction.
Defense lawyers add that Kohberger, 29, cannot fairly confront the evidence the state intends to bring against him when he does not know what it is.
Kohberger is charged in the deaths of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death in an off-campus house in November of 2022.
The deaths of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, shocked the small town of Moscow, Idaho. Initially, investigators had few leads and spent considerable time tracing the activities of the four students in the hours prior to their deaths.
At the time, Kohberger was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, where he was working toward a Ph.D. in criminology.
Kohberger’s lawyers say prosecutors disclosed 25 experts but only five of those include actual expert reports. They add that not a single DNA expert opinion or report has been produced.
“Kohberger continues wading through a sea of discovery. The need for rule-compliant
expert disclosures is critical to his ability to prepare for his defense at trial.”
Prosecutors hit back in their own motion asking a judge to deny Kohlberger’s request because they have complied with court orders for expert witness disclosures. The state said they have a “continuing duty to disclose” under the law which they will do and that discovery disclosure is “not a one-time event.”
Kohberger’s attorneys stood firm in a January 7 response saying that the state violated his Constitutional rights with the “inadequate disclosures.”
“This is a capital murder case and compliance with the rules of discovery are not optional. It is impossible for him to confront unknown expert opinions, with his own expert disclosures by January 23, 2025,” the filing stated.
A judge is yet to rule on the issue.