Connect with us

West

Idaho prosecutors reject Bryan Kohberger's many attacks on search warrants

Published

on

Idaho prosecutors reject Bryan Kohberger's many attacks on search warrants

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive.

Please enter a valid email address.

Having trouble? Click here.

Idaho prosecutors have rejected a flurry of Bryan Kohberger’s motions to attack search warrants executed in connection with his arrest in the slaying of four college students, dissecting the defense’s claims and telling the judge that there was “substantial probable cause” to seize evidence from his parents’ home, his car, his devices and other places.

Latah County prosecuting attorney Bill Thompson wrote in part of the nine objections to Kohberger’s defense efforts that the warrants in question were “based on substantial probable cause.” Much of the specifics remain under seal, but prosecutors are asking the judge to reject the defense motions and allow the warrants to stand.

Advertisement

Last month, the defense asked Judge Steven Hippler to suppress DNA evidence, searches on Kohberger’s devices and digital accounts, his car, his person and his parent’s house. 

TED BUNDY LAWER REVEALS WHAT ‘TOTALLY FASCINATES’ HIM ABOUT BRYAN KOHBERGER CASE

Bryan Kohberger, right, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court on Sept. 13, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Kohberger is facing four first-degree murder charges and a felony burglary charge in connection with the early morning massacre of four University of Idaho students around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022.

Prosecutors allege he snuck into a house near the University of Idaho campus – as some of them were asleep – and killed them with a large knife. A surviving housemate told detectives she saw a masked man with “bushy eyebrows” after overhearing crying and sounds of a struggle. 

Advertisement

CLICK HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS

The victims were Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.

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)

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at the nearby Washington State University, was arrested weeks later at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. 

Advertisement

Police found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body that prosecutors say contained Kohberger’s DNA. Kohberger drove a white Hyundai Elantra, the same type of car investigators identified as the suspect vehicle, and allegedly turned his phone off before heading to and from the crime scene, according to the affidavit. Police, citing phone records, also alleged that he stalked the victims’ home on a dozen occasions before the murders and drove by once more hours after. 

IDAHO JUDGE GIVES BRYAN KOHBERGER WIN OVER GENETIC GENEALOGY BATTLE

A judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.

Prosecution’s objection to the defendant’s motion to suppress

The defense team, led by Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth, is seeking a Franks hearing, where they hope to have the warrants thrown out. They previously told the court they “firmly” believe their client is innocent.

Advertisement

Such hearings are rarely granted and even more rarely successful, experts tell Fox News Digital.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

“I’ve practiced law now for 52 years, and tried, actually taken to trial, to verdict, over 300 cases, and I think in my entire career, I’ve had judges grant Franks hearings three times,” said John Henry Browne, the Seattle-based defense attorney whose past clients have included the serial killer Ted Bundy. “I think two of them resulted in nothing. And the third one did result in the judge eventually throwing out the charges. But these hearings can be very productive. They can be very helpful to the defense from the standpoint of discovery.”

Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorneys Anne Taylor, left, Elisa Massoth and Jay Logsdon arrive at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, on June 27, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

BRYAN KOHBERGER CAN FACE DEATH PENALTY IF CONVICTED IN IDAHO COLLEGE SLAYINGS

Advertisement

If Kohberger can prove that investigators willfully disregarded or misrepresented the truth in their warrant affidavits, that information can be thrown out of the warrants, he told Fox News Digital. On the other hand, however, even if that long-shot effort is successful, the judge will weigh whether there is enough probable cause remaining in the warrant and could find it is still valid.

Hippler previously told Kohberger’s team to re-file the motion for a Franks hearing, telling his lawyers that it was unacceptable to send him 2,000 pages of exhibits without identifying which parts were relevant to their arguments. 

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson speaks with Wendy Olson, left, and Cory Carone during a motion hearing regarding a gag order for a case against Bryan Kohberger in Latah County District Court, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)

A closed-door hearing was held on Dec. 11. Kohberger is due back in court on Jan. 23.

Advertisement

He is being held without bail and could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial is scheduled to begin next year.



Read the full article from Here

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Washington

Buying Here: Mount Washington condo offers front-seat view of fireworks for $499,000

Published

on

Buying Here: Mount Washington condo offers front-seat view of fireworks for 9,000






Source link

Continue Reading

Utah

How will local businesses recover after the Cottonwood Fire?

Published

on

How will local businesses recover after the Cottonwood Fire?


BEAVER, Utah — While firefighters have been hard at work fighting what’s been called the state’s “most destructive fire in history”, what will be left after the final embers have been put out?

For Tucker High Adventure Tours co-owner Lane Tucker, it’s been a quiet day to catch up on some repairs.

Along with his father and brother, they offer backcountry skiing, rock climbing, backpacking trips and more.

Or they normally would before things came to a sudden halt after losing five of the nine condos they own to the Cottonwood Fire.

Advertisement

Several trip offerings have been cancelled as well, along with the popular local races like the “Crusher in the Tushar”. He estimates they’ll lose between $ 30,000 and $ 50,000 in revenue.

Despite the overwhelming uncertainty, Tucker is hopeful they can breathe new life into exploring these mountains once again.

“Some of those really thick tree stands and stuff…if the soil holds and if the snow comes in and holds well – there’s going to be some really sweet skiing,” he said. “If we just forget about it and it’s, ‘oh, that place got burned. It’s not going to be anything,’ – you’re going to be missing out.”

Businesses he’s worked with throughout the years have also been feeling the impact, Eagle Point in particular.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Wyoming

Measles confirmed in Teton County, Wyoming, as summer crowds flock to parks – East Idaho News

Published

on

Measles confirmed in Teton County, Wyoming, as summer crowds flock to parks – East Idaho News


JACKSON, Wyo. (WyoFile) — After confirming a case of measles in an unvaccinated adult in Teton County, Wyoming, health officials are warning the public about possible exposure at locations in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson.

The news comes as summer crowds flood the region with tourists from around the world.

The public may have been exposed between June 17-25 at several locations in Teton County, according to the Wyoming Health Department. They include restaurants in Grand Teton National Park’s Colter Bay Village on June 17-18; a Colter Bay convenience store on June 20 and the Target in Jackson on June 25.

Advertisement

“We are asking people who may have been exposed to watch for measles symptoms for 21 days past the exposure date and consider avoiding crowded public places and high-risk settings such as daycare centers,” State Health Officer Alexia Harrist said in a press release.

Monitoring is especially critical for people who have not been vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, according to the health department.

It marks Wyoming’s second confirmed case of the highly contagious infection in 2026. Wyoming went 15 years without a confirmed case of measles until last year.

Resurgence

Health officials confirmed Wyoming’s first 2026 case in May. An adult patient in Fremont County who did not have a confirmed vaccination status caught the disease, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 — indicating no endemic transmission for 12 months or more. But it re-emerged in recent years primarily due to declining vaccination rates and increased public health skepticism. Those trends spawned during the COVID-19 pandemic and have persisted during the second Trump administration.

Advertisement

The neighboring state of Utah is one of America’s 2026 measles hotspots, with 499 cases reported so far this year.

RELATED | Anguished parents. Doctors in tears. Utah’s long measles outbreak takes a toll

A vaccination rate of 95% is necessary for community immunity to prevent measles outbreaks, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In 2025, Wyoming’s proportion of kindergarten students who had completed the MMR vaccine was 93.6%, the CDC reports. That rate is higher than Colorado, Utah and Montana for the same year.

However, it’s declined overall since 2012-13, when Wyoming’s kindergarten vaccination rate was above 97%. It fell to 90.2% in 2020-21 before inching back up to the current 93.6%.

Advertisement

A measles case had not been reported in the state since 2010 until July 2025, when the health department confirmed measles in an unvaccinated child from Natrona County. By year’s end, 13 more cases were confirmed. The majority involved unvaccinated children and adults.

Along with being extremely contagious, measles can cause severe complications like pneumonia and brain swelling and can leave lasting impacts on the immune system. One to three out of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles will die from complications, according to the CDC.

RELATED | The US is on the verge of losing its measles elimination status. Here’s why that matters

RELATED | Measles is not the only disease on the rise. Mumps also may be making a comeback

=htmlentities(get_the_title())?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=get_permalink()?>%0D%0A%0D%0A=htmlentities(‘For more stories like this one, be sure to visit https://www.eastidahonews.com/ for all of the latest news, community events and more.’)?>&subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20EastIdahoNews” class=”fa-stack jDialog”>

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending