Idaho
Bryan Kohberger asks Idaho judge to block ‘bushy' brows evidence, suggests witness’s artwork skews memory
Bryan Kohberger’s defense team is asking the judge overseeing his quadruple murder trial to block an eyewitness from testifying about the intruder she saw having “bushy eyebrows” on the night three of her housemates and another friend were killed in a 4 a.m. massacre.
First, the defense argues that allowing the witness, identified in court filings as “DM,” would be unfair, too vague and unfairly prejudicial before the jury. Also in the motion, attorney Elisa Massoth denies that the defendant, Kohberger, has bushy eyebrows.
She is also seeking an order barring any evidence related to “bushy eyebrows” in addition to keeping DM from using the phrase. In separate filings, the defense is also asking the court to limit the use of the words murder, psychopath and sociopath.
The surviving housemate is the only known witness to have encountered the intruder and lived to tell her tale after she froze in shock, and he walked toward a back sliding door – and recently unsealed text messages so she tried in vain to reach her murdered friends minutes after the intruder left.
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Brian Kohberger pictured after his transfer to the Ada County jail in Boise, Idaho. (Ada County Sheriff’s Office)
The motion became public after Judge Steven Hippler told defense attorneys and prosecutors they were keeping too many court filings out of public view, filing them under seal without proper justification.
Massoth wrote that DM was unable to describe the masked intruder to a sketch artist and did not know what color eyebrows the intruder had. The texts, at least the exceprts that have been made public, show she discussed the intruder’s mask covering his mouth and forehead. They do not mention his eyebrows.
“Eyewitness identifications are inherently unreliable,” said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who formerly represented Lori Vallow. “Especially this one – it’s beyond vague.”
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Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
But what stands out to her in this case is the revelation in court filings that DM had a wall of photos and artwork, some of which she had drawn herself, depicting detailed faces and prominent eyebrows.
Last month, defense attorneys tried to attack the housemate’s credibility, arguing her story changed in the span of three interviews with investigators and that she admitted she had been drinking, felt tired and her memory was hazy.
“There is a beyond strong explanation, when somebody is so unsure about why they may have this distinctive impression of eyebrows – because it’s all over the room,” Elcox told Fox News Digital. “It’s artwork that they’re drawing.”
Read the motion
The defense argued that this artwork could have influenced her memory.
“There is no reliability of the physical characteristics that D.M. has reported,” Massoth wrote. “Mr. Kohberger does not have bushy eyebrows, but the art work on D.M.’s wall and that which she draws eyes with eyebrows could be described as bushy, full, or prominent.”
Hippler previously said the witness’s statements could be “fodder” for cross-examination at trial but had no bearing on the finding of probable cause used to justify Kohberger’s arrest.
Elcox says she expects explosive cross-examination on this issue.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger as he appeared on the Washington State University website. He was studying there for a Ph.D. in criminology at the time of the murders 10 miles away at the University of Idaho. (Washington State University)
“People often accused defense attorneys of just like throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks, like questioning an identification,” she said. “But that is some real meat and potatoes, about how to how to question the reliability of whatever was observed. I can’t imagine a more specific fact.”
The new filing also reveals DM had “lucid dreams of being kidnapped or chased,” she was a consumer of true-crime TV and podcasts.
“I think the judge will allow it on the grounds that DM will be subject to cross-examination and that the unreliability of the identification goes to the weight that the jury will give the description, not the admissibility of it,” Elcox, who has been closely following the case, told Fox News Digital. “But … this identification can absolutely be destroyed on cross-examination.”
Judge Hippler previously said DM’s testimony appeared more useful in establishing a timeline of the slayings than identifying the attacker.
According to a probable cause affidavit, DM overheard someone saying, “There’s someone here” after 4 a.m. She later heard what sounded like crying, and a male voice saying, “It’s OK, I’m going to help you.”
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Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, June 27, 2023. (August Frank/Pool via Reuters)
A security camera at the home next door picked up “distorted audio” of what investigators believe were “voices or a whimper followed by a loud thud,” in addition to a dog’s barking at 4:17 a.m.
DM looked out her bedroom door and “saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” according to the affidavit. She described him to police as over 5 feet, 10 inches tall, athletic but not muscular and having bushy eyebrows.
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Bryan Kohberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania after police arrested him at his parents’ house in Albrightsville in the quadruple homicide in Moscow, Idaho. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
They came face-to-face, and she froze in shock after he passed within three feet of her, according to the new filing.
Minutes later, she called three of the victims – Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20. No one answered. Then she reached out to the other surviving roommate, “BF.”
Although it was believed DM locked her bedroom door and went to sleep after this encounter, the new filing reveals that after a brief exchange of texts with her roommate, BF urged her to “run” downstairs.
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According to other court filings released this week, DM spent the night in BF’s room and an unnamed person called 911 from BF’s phone around noon the next day.
At 10:23 a.m., DM texted both Mogen and Goncalves. “Pls answer,” she wrote. “R u up??” She then called her father around 11:40 a.m., and finally someone called 911 from BF’s phone around noon.
Timeline of Nov. 13, 2022:
- 4:00 AM: Suspect arrives at house
- Between 4 and 4:17: Time of murders
- 4:19: Roommate calls 3 victims, no one answers
- 4:22 to 4:24: Surviving roommates text each other from inside house
- 4:27: Roommate calls victims again, no one answers
- 4:32: Roommate texts Goncalves ‘Pls answer’
- 10:23: Surviving roommate texts victims, no one answers
- 11:39: Roommate calls her father
- 12:00 PM.: 911 call placed from roommate’s phone
Court documents revealed last month that DM also said the intruder may have been carrying a vacuum-like object. She did not recognize him at the time of the attack and did not recognize an unmasked photo of Kohberger after his arrest.
Kohberger, 30, is accused of killing four of the six people inside a home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, around 4 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022. The fourth victim was Ethan Chapin, 20.
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Brian Kohberger in Latah County court for his Jan. 5, 2023, initial appearance in an Idaho courtroom. (Pool)
Police arrested Kohberger Dec. 30 of that year at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania.
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He faces a first-degree murder charge for each victim and a single felony burglary charge. A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all charges.
The trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 11. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Idaho
Large police presence near Taco Bell in Blackfoot – East Idaho News
BLACKFOOT — A large contingent of Blackfoot Police officers has cordoned off an area near the Taco Bell on Parkway Drive in Blackfoot.
Police responded around 5 p.m., according to multiple witnesses who contacted EastIdahoNews.com.
EastIdahoNews.com has reached out to Blackfoot Police for details.
We will update this story as we learn more.
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Idaho
Idaho angler reels in record 43.25-inch lake trout at Payette Lake
MISSOULA, Mont. — An Idaho Falls angler is back in the Idaho record books after landing a record-setting lake trout at Payette Lake.
Idaho Fish and Game said Dylan Smith caught and released a 43.25-inch lake trout on May 2, setting a new state catch-and-release record for the species. The fish surpassed the previous record of 42 inches.
The catch marks Smith’s second appearance in Idaho’s record books. He previously held the state catch-and-release lake trout record after landing a trophy fish in 2018 before that mark was later broken.
According to Fish and Game, Payette Lake has become one of Idaho’s premier lake trout fisheries thanks to years of management efforts aimed at improving both lake trout and kokanee populations.
Idaho
Boise’s North End finds new way to mark Pride after Idaho law halts flag display
Pride Month looks different this June along Boise’s Harrison Boulevard, where a long-standing tradition of hanging Pride flags on lamp posts has been put on hold after a new state law restricted which flags can be flown on government property.
For several years, Pride flags lined lamp posts along Harrison Boulevard in Boise’s North End neighborhood. But Idaho House Bill 561, signed by Gov. Brad Little in March, restricts which flags can be flown on government property, including the City of Boise’s Harrison lamp posts.
In response, a group of neighbors formed Pride North End and launched a distribution effort to help residents show support from their own front yards. The group has been making Pride flags and yard signs available to people who want to display them at home.
“I thought that I would…be a personal example of ‘yes, this is what I do.’ This is what I believe in,” said Edna Schochat, a North End resident.
Pride North End has already distributed more than 900-yard signs and 250 flags. The group’s original donation goal was around $2,000 to order 100 flags and 200 yard signs, but it has exceeded that GoFundMe goal, reaching $10,000 worth of donations.
The group plans to continue holding public flag and sign distributions through the end of the month.
“We cannot just say something without doing something that proves that we mean what we say,” Schochat said.
Pride North End said any leftover funds after materials are distributed will go to local LGBTQ+ nonprofits. A link to the group’s GoFundMe can be found here.
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