Two days of hearings on defense motions in the quadruple murder case against University of Idaho student stabbings suspect Bryan Kohberger ended without any official decisions but revealed new details ahead of his highly anticipated trial later this year.

The defense appeared to confirm early reports that Kohberger was spotted wearing rubber gloves in his parents’ kitchen when tactical officers burst in to arrest him. A key eyewitness was accused of having memory problems, drinking and telling a conflicting story. 

The defense confirmed that Kohberger arrived at school in Pullman, Washington, in June 2022. And the judge issued a stern warning to both sides about what he expects out of their expert disclosures moving forward.

Judge Steven Hippler said he would take the arguments under advisement and issue his decisions later. Here are some key developments from the two-day hearing.

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Is there an expectation of privacy regarding DNA left at a crime scene?

Kohberger’s defense wants investigative genetic genealogy evidence suppressed. Their arguments, however, did not appear to move the judge.

“I struggle with the idea that DNA left at a crime scene, that there’s any expectation of privacy,” Judge Steven Hippler told Kohberger’s lead defense attorney, Anne Taylor.

Later, as she tried to attack other elements of a probable cause affidavit, he returned to DNA as the apparent deciding factor.

Hippler asked if DNA itself found on a knife sheath under a victim’s body isn’t enough to support probable cause on its own.

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)

IDAHO MURDERS: BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE SLAMS CREDIBILITY OF EYEWITNESS, MEMORY ISSUES

“Isn’t that probable cause every day and twice on Sunday?” he asked.

She said not in this case, but experts say the DNA evidence is likely Kohberger’s greatest threat.

“The cellphone records certainly make him look bad, although the fact that the phone was turned off at the time of the murders helps him,” said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago attorney who has been following the case. “But I think the DNA sinks his Bismarck.”

Trouble with the eyewitness?

Taylor called into question the credibility of an eyewitness, a surviving housemate who police said saw a masked man leaving after overhearing sounds of a struggle.

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Attorney Anne Taylor, center, visits the location of the crimes on King Road with defense investigators Jan. 3, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Despite the massacre, she went to bed. Police weren’t contacted until hours later, when a friend called 911 from one of the survivors’ phones late in the morning.

In one of her statements to police, as read by Taylor in court, she said the following:

“I don’t know if this was real or if my mind was just, like, playing with me,” Taylor said. “But, from what I think I heard, someone was crying in the bathroom.”

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The witness also said she heard a specific victim running up and down the stairs. But, according to Taylor, she couldn’t have, because that victim was killed in an upstairs bed. 

And a footprint outside the witness’s bedroom door, Taylor said, was not repeated anywhere else in the home. She questioned why it was even included in the police affidavit.

Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jennings defended the eyewitness, telling the court the most important thing that came from her in the probable cause affidavit was her description of the suspect as a White male, slender and tall. And that part of her story never changed.

DNA from two unknown males

Taylor told the court police recovered two other DNA samples from unknown males, one on a handrail and one on a glove outside. 

With the source of the DNA in question, she said it could mean Kohberger is not related to the crime at all.

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Hippler seemed unconvinced as Taylor tried to argue this invalidated the probable cause used to arrest her client.

Bryan Kohberger enters a courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse June 27, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (August Frank/Pool/Getty Images)

“His DNA is still on the knife sheath though. That’s the problem, counsel,” he said.

Countdown to Kohberger’s arrest

Prior to Kohberger’s arrest at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, the FBI arranged to have a local trash collector snag his family’s garbage and deliver it to them for testing, the court heard.

Lead detectives in the case were in Pennsylvania at the time but watched local authorities conduct the tactical raid via a video feed broadcast from a drone, Payne testified.

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Jay Logsdon, one of Kohberger’s defense attorneys, questioned the legitimacy of a SWAT raid on the home and said police “snipers” had been watching Kohberger walking around inside the house. He brought up the arrest of White supremacist mass shooter Dylann Roof, but Hippler cut him off before he could illustrate a point.

“As they explained in their own affidavit, they’re essentially watching Mr. Kohberger as he moves around his house, via snipers,” Logsdon said. “They were quite safe, and there was simply no reason to bash the doors in momentarily after yelling from their BearCat.”

Brian Kohberger’s former apartment at Washington State University pictured May 21, 2023. It is located about 10 miles from the crime scene. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

“There’s two issues,” Judge Hippler interjected. “There’s officer safety. There’s also destruction of evidence concerns.”

Logsdon downplayed concerns that law enforcement thought Kohberger would have destroyed any evidence.

“The only thing they knew is that he’s walking around room to room and that he’s got kitchen gloves on,” Logsdon said.

“That’s not all they knew,” Hippler said, adding he would not go into further detail in the open court session. 

The house at 1122 King Road, where four University of Idaho students were killed Nov. 13, 2022, sits boarded up in Moscow, Idaho Dec. 27, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson said there were additional details known to law enforcement that were “quite incriminating” and justified the rapid entry. 

“They had a no-knock warrant, signed by a judge, that allowed them to enter Kohberger’s residence using means they deemed reasonably construed to ensure both the integrity of evidence and officer safety,” said Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector who has been closely following the case.

“Whether they were watching him with snipers or not has no legal bearing. These strike me as collateral, dilatory tactics by the defense.

“Get on with it.”

Kohberger’s shopping list

The defense argued that investigators improperly obtained Kohberger’s Amazon history without a warrant. Prosecutors countered that a business record with a third party is not protected by an expectation of privacy.

Logsdon called the U.S. a “panopticon,” essentially a large prison with few guards, and a surveillance state and warned that privacy rights needed to be protected.  

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

Experts say Amazon is allowed to voluntarily provide the records as part of established case law.

“That’s an uphill climb for the defense,” Stoltmann told Fox News Digital. 

The results

Hippler said he had not yet decided whether the defense will receive a Franks hearing but told both sides to send him a list of available dates within the next three weeks.

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His decisions on most of the other motions are expected to be announced in the near future. In response to a defense request that the court either order prosecutors to hand over additional expert witness disclosures or face sanctions, Hippler said both sides should “over-disclose.”

“A word of caution,” he said. “Sometimes there’s dissonance between what an expert thinks they’re gonna talk about and what the lawyer understands from that expert.”

The King Road home before its demolition. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year in the home invasion murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

At the time of the murders, Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University, about 10 miles across the state line. The victims were all undergrad students at the University of Idaho.

Latah County Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

In an effort to help Idahoans follow major bills, resolutions and memorials through the legislative process, the Idaho Capital Sun will produce a “legislative notebook” at the end of each week to gather information in one place that concerns major happenings in the Legislature and other news relating to state government. To receive the full extent of our reporting in your inbox each day, sign up for our free email newsletter The Sunrise on our website at idahocapitalsun.com/subscribe/.

Here is our quick rundown of the major happenings during the third week of the Idaho Legislature’s 2025 session.

Legislation introduced to allow public funds for private education, bill introduced to repeal Medicaid expansion

Measures that address some of the most controversial and fiscally consequential issues that may come before the Idaho Legislature all session were introduced this week.

Legislators introduced highly anticipated legislation on Wednesday that would allow millions in public funds to pay for private and religious schooling expenses – referred to as school choice – in the Idaho House of Representatives and Idaho Senate. State lawmakers also introduced on Friday legislation to fully repeal Medicaid expansion in the state after voters passed a law via ballot initiative in 2018 to allow health insurance access for Idahoans that fall within the “Medicaid gap.”

Tens of thousands of Idahoans in the “gap” earned too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to qualify for tax subsidies on Idaho’s health insurance marketplace, Your Health Idaho.

Both issues have come before the Idaho Legislature before, but bills to fund private education with public taxpayer dollars and bills to repeal or reform Medicaid expansion haven’t successfully made it through both chambers of the Legislature in years past. 

This year, due to several factors including changes to which legislators make up the relevant committees that hear these bills and prevailing changes at the federal level with the Trump administration, may mean these policies could be on surer footing in 2025.

But standing in their way on both issues is one overarching question: How much will these proposals affect the overall state budget and its financial future?

Democrats, education groups and other advocates have said any proposal that allows public dollars to go toward private education would affect the state’s general fund and its ability to fully fund other public services and infrastructure projects.

Similarly, some Democrats and even one Republican on the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee questioned how much repealing the voter-supported Medicaid expansion law would cost the state.

The Medicaid expansion repeal bill’s fiscal notes estimates it would save the state at least $110 million annually. But Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said repeal may cost the state more than that.

“I think this fiscal note is entirely inaccurate,” Rubel said. “Everything that I’ve seen indicates that it would actually cost the state more to get rid of Medicaid expansion than it would save. … There have been huge savings throughout the system — in corrections and behavioral health, certainly in terms of all those funds we had to stand up before to ensure we don’t lose all the rural hospitals.”

Legislation of interest during the third week of the 2025 session

• House Bill 58:  Introduced by Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, on Friday, the bill would repeal Medicaid expansion in Idaho. The bill may be taken up by the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee for a full public hearing in the coming days of the session.
• House Bill 39: Introduced by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, on Wednesday, the bill would establish a refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 for parents to help pay for education expenses, including for private or religious school expenses like tuition. The bill’s fiscal impact statement says the proposal would reduce the state’s General Fund revenue by no more than $50 million, with $125,000 needed in General Fund dollars for one-time programming and coding costs to carry out the credit by the Idaho State Tax Commission. The bill may be taken up by the Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee for a full public hearing in the coming days of the session.
• Senate Bill 1025: Sponsored by Sen. Dave Lent, R-Idaho Falls, on Wednesday, the bill would expand the state’s Empowering Parents program by $20 million to be able to cover costs such as tuition for students at private, public and home schools. It also includes $30 million in funding to support special education. 
• House Bill 40: Sponsored by Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, on Thursday, the bill would reduce the individual and corporate income tax rates in Idaho from the current rate of 5.695% down to 5.3%, at a cost of $240 million. It would also expand the income tax exemption to military pensions, at a cost of $12 million, and would eliminate capital gains tax for gold bullion sales, at a cost of $1 million. The bill may be taken up by the Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee for a full public hearing in the coming days of the session.
• House Bill 37: Sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, the bill would make death by firing squad the primary way of administering the death penalty in Idaho. The bill may be brought back before the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee for a full public hearing in the coming days of the session.
• House Bill 10: Sponsored by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, the bill was referred back to the House Education Committee from the House floor on Friday. The bill would ban flags or banners in Idaho public school classrooms that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology.” An updated version of the bill, House Bill 41, aims to take its place after Hill added that flags of other nations “not engaged in hostile action” with the United States would be allowed. The bill may be taken up by the full Idaho House in the coming days of the session.
• House Bill 7: The Idaho House on a 54-14 vote passed the bill on Wednesday that would implement a $300 minimum fine for adults possessing three ounces or less of marijuana. It now heads to the Senate Judiciary and Rules committee for consideration in the coming days of the session.
• House Joint Memorial 1: Sponsored by Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, the memorial passed the House State Affairs Committee on a 13-2 vote Wednesday. The memorial asks the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage. The memorial is on the Idaho House’s third reading calendar for Monday and may be taken up in the coming days of the session.

What to expect next week 

Senate State Affairs Committee

House Bill 14, a bill that would require all Idaho state agencies to recommend outdated, obsolete or unnecessary laws for the Idaho Legislature to consider removing, will be before the committee on Monday after passing the House on a 68-0 vote on Thursday.

House State Affairs Committee

House Bill 32, a bill seeking to prohibit the state, cities, counties, public health districts, school districts and state officers from mandating the use of masks, face shields or coverings to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, will be before the committee for a full public hearing on Monday.

Quote of the week

“This bill is not about whether the death penalty is good or bad … Our job is to make sure to carry out the most efficient manner under the bounds of the Constitution.” – Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, on House Bill 37, the bill that would make the firing squad the primary way of administering the death penalty in Idaho

Social media post of the week

Photo of the week

Reporting from Idaho Capital Sun journalists Clark Corbin, Mia Maldonado and Kyle Pfannenstiel contributed to this legislative notebook.

JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Idaho State Police are busy getting a new forensic lab up and running at their office in Jerome.

Investigators must send evidence to crime labs in Pocatello or Meridian for testing.

Laboratory Systems Director Matthew Gamette said the facility will focus on drug chemistry.

“Looking at suspected controlled substances, it could be pills, plants, powders, things of that nature that are illicit substances that are seized by law enforcement,” Gamette said. “Then, we will analyze those substances to be able to tell law enforcement what those substances are and what their controlled status is in Idaho.”

Gamette stresses the Magic Valley is a key area of attention for ISP.

“A major freeway that comes through this area, there’s a lot of trafficking and other things that happen on that freeway and in other areas coming up from Nevada.”

ISP Captain Mark Donahue said the location of this new lab will help save time with investigations and court cases.

“It’s going to really enhance our partnerships with our local agencies and really bring a really strong positive resource to our citizens here in the community,” Donahue said.

And it is not just law enforcement that will benefit. Gamette said victims of crimes will, too.

“When we’re more available to them, that brings more speedy justice for those victims of the crimes,” Gamette said.

Before the lab can open, ISP is searching for a local chemist to work at the facility.

“We want to hire somebody that wants to stay here for a long time, has family here, they are anchored into the community, that gives us a lot of presence here,” Gamette said.

ISP plans to have this new lab up and running next year.

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