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Murder In Moscow: The Long Legal Road Behind Kohberger’s Latest Filing (Part 2) (8/7/26) · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to pick up where we left
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: off discussing Brian Kohlberger and the new appeal. Investigators also
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: relied heavily on cell phone records to reconstruct Colberger's movements
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: before and after the killings. His phone had reportedly connected
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  Speaker 1: with towers serving areas around Moscow on multiple occasions before
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  Speaker 1: November thirteenth. Prosecutors treated those prior trips as possible evidence
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that he had surveiled the house or familiarized himself with
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  Speaker 1: the neighborhood. The defense disputed that interpretation, because tower data
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  Speaker 1: could place a phone within a broad area rather than
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  Speaker 1: add a specific address. Moscow contained businesses, roads, and other
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: destinations that could have provided innocent reasons for a person
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  Speaker 1: to travel there. The most important period involved the hours
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: immediately surrounding the murders. Colberger's phone stopped reporting to the
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  Speaker 1: network during part of that window, and later resumed communicating
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  Speaker 1: with towers south of Moscow. Prosecutors argued that the pattern
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  Speaker 1: was consistent with someone disabling the phone while traveling to
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  Speaker 1: and from the crime. The defense could have contended that
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  Speaker 1: a law signal, powered down device or ordinary travel pattern
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  Speaker 1: didn't establish murder. As with the vehicle evidence, the force
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  Speaker 1: of the phone records depended on how they aligned with
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the case. Surveillance footage and cell phone
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  Speaker 1: data were most significant when considered together rather than an isolation.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Cameras reportedly tracked a white sedan moving through Pullman before
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  Speaker 1: it appeared in the Moscow area. The vehicle was then
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  Speaker 1: recorded near King Road during the period when investigators believed
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  Speaker 1: the murders occurred. Afterward, a similar car was captured leaving
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  Speaker 1: the neighborhood and traveling away from Moscow. Coburger's phone later
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  Speaker 1: reconnected south of the city along a route prosecutors believe
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: was consistent with the vehicle's path. The state's theory was
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  Speaker 1: therefore not merely that Coburger owned the same kind of
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  Speaker 1: car seen near the end. It was that his car,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: phone travel pattern, and DNA collectively formed a continuous chain.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: The defense challenge would have been to break that chain
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  Speaker 1: at enough points to create reasonable doubt a car model
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  Speaker 1: could have been misidentified, towered data could have been imprecise,
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  Speaker 1: and DNA could theoretically have been transferred. The prosecution would
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  Speaker 1: have argued that explaining all those facts as unrelated coincidences
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  Speaker 1: required a coincidence to enormous for anyone to accept. The
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: surviving roommates became essential witnesses because they could describe what
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  Speaker 1: happened inside the house before the police arrived. One roommate
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  Speaker 1: reported seeing a mass man dressed in dark clothing moving
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  Speaker 1: through the residents. Her description included physical characteristics that prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: believed were generally consistent with Coberger. She also recalled hearing,
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  Speaker 1: sounds and statements that became part of the investigative timeline.
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  Speaker 1: The fact that she survived while others were killed generated
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  Speaker 1: widespread speculation about the attacker's intentions. It also produced unfair
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  Speaker 1: questions about why she didn't immediately call the police. Trauma
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  Speaker 1: doesn't follow a predictable script, and people confronted with danger
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  Speaker 1: can freeze, disassociate, hide, rationalize, or lose their sense of time.
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  Speaker 1: A jury would have been asked to evaluate her account
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  Speaker 1: without imposing unrealistic expectations on a response. The defense could
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  Speaker 1: have challenged the accuracy of an observation made during darkness, fear,
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  Speaker 1: and confusion. Even so, her testimony potentially placed an unknown
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  Speaker 1: mail inside the home during a critical period. The witness
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  Speaker 1: account did not identify Coburger by name, but it strengthened
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  Speaker 1: the prosecution's timeline. Her description of the man's movement helped
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  Speaker 1: investigators estimate when the assailant left the house. That estimate
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  Speaker 1: could then be compared with surveillance recordings of the white
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  Speaker 1: Sudan departing the neighborhood. Sounds captured by a nearby camera
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  Speaker 1: also contributed to the timeline. Each piece of information reinforced
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the other, which was a recurring feature of the state's case.
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  Speaker 1: No single witness claimed to have watched Coburger commit the murders,
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  Speaker 1: no camera clearly recorded his face entering or leaving the residence,
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  Speaker 1: no recovered weapon was publicly tied to him through a
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  Speaker 1: conventional forensic match. The prosecution instead assembled a mosaic in
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  Speaker 1: which each fragment gained meaning from its relationship to the rest.
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  Speaker 1: Whether that mosaic was complete enough for conviction remained the
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  Speaker 1: central question until the guilty please ended the scheduled trial.
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  Speaker 1: Coburger was arrested at his parents home in Pennsylvania near
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  Speaker 1: the end of December twenty twenty two. The arrest concluded
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  Speaker 1: weeks of public uncertainty, but began a new phase dominated
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  Speaker 1: by legal procedure. He was taken into custody during an
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  Speaker 1: early morning operation involving local and federal authorities. Pennsylvania courts
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  Speaker 1: first addressed his detention and transfer before he was returned
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  Speaker 1: to Idaho. Coburger waived extradition, allowing the case to proceed
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  Speaker 1: without a prolonged interstate dispute. Once he arrived in Idaho,
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  Speaker 1: prosecutors formally presented the allegations against them. He was accused
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  Speaker 1: of four accounts of first degree murder and one count
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  Speaker 1: of burglary. The burglary charge alleged that he entered the
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  Speaker 1: King Road house with the intent to commit murder from
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  Speaker 1: the outset. The possibility of capital punishment gave every decision
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary consequence. The case was no longer simply an investigation
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  Speaker 1: because the state now had to prove its theory within
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  Speaker 1: the rules of a court room. The probable Cause AFFID
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  Speaker 1: David offered the public its first detailed account of why
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  Speaker 1: investigators believe Colburger was responsible. It described the vehicle footage,
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  Speaker 1: cell phone records, witness observations, and DNA recovered from the
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  Speaker 1: knife sheath. The affid David did not contain every piece
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  Speaker 1: of evidence gathered by police. Its purpose was established sufficient
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  Speaker 1: cause for arrest. I proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: many readers treated it as though it were the entire
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  Speaker 1: prosecution case. Supporters of the state saw an overwhelming accumulation
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  Speaker 1: of evidence. Skeptics identified unanswered questions and warned that investigative
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  Speaker 1: narratives could appear stronger before being challenged. Both reactions overlooked
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  Speaker 1: how much litigation still had to occur. Search warrants, laboratory testing,
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  Speaker 1: expert analysis, witness interviews, and digital examinations continued after the arrest.
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  Speaker 1: The case that might have reached the jury would therefore
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  Speaker 1: have been broader than the affid David that introduced it.
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  Speaker 1: A grand jury later indicted Colberger, replacing the need for
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  Speaker 1: a prelim hearing at which prosecutors would have publicly presented evidence.
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  Speaker 1: That decision accelerated the formal charging process while limiting early
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  Speaker 1: public examination of the case. Colberger stood silent during arraignment,
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  Speaker 1: and the judge entered not guilty, please on a SI behalf.
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  Speaker 1: The choice became a source of fascination, even though standing
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  Speaker 1: silent was permitted under Idaho procedure. Some interpreted it as
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  Speaker 1: calculated theater, While others viewed it as an ordinary defense decision,
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  Speaker 1: what mattered legally was that the case was positioned for trial.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutors then announced that they intended to seek the death penalty.
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  Speaker 1: That decision increased the complexity, expense, and duration of every
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  Speaker 1: stage that followed. Capital litigation demanded heightened attention by jury selection,
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  Speaker 1: expert testimony, mitigation evidence, and constitutional safeguards. It also created
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  Speaker 1: the possibility that any conviction would be followed by years
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  Speaker 1: of appellate review. The decision to seek death transformed the
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  Speaker 1: defense mission from contesting guilt into protecting Colberger from execution
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  Speaker 1: as well. His attorneys had to investigate the crime while
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  Speaker 1: simultaneously developing evidence about his life, health history, and personal circumstance.
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  Speaker 1: Defense required specialists who could examine psychological, social, educational, medical,
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  Speaker 1: and family information. Even if the jury convicted them, that
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  Speaker 1: material might have persuaded jurors to impose life imprisonment instead
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  Speaker 1: of death. Prosecutors meanwhile, had to prepare aggravating evidence supporting
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  Speaker 1: the harshest punishment available under idahole law. The victim's families
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  Speaker 1: did not all experience the death penalty question in precisely
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  Speaker 1: the same way. Some emphasized the need for the most
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  Speaker 1: severe possible punishment, while others focused on certainty and avoiding
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  Speaker 1: decades of litigation. Those differences did not reflect disagreement about
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  Speaker 1: the enormity of the crime. They reflected the impossible choices
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  Speaker 1: imposed on families already carrying on bearable grief. Every strategic
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  Speaker 1: decision in the case therefore existed within a larger struggle
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  Speaker 1: over punishment, finality, and the emotional cost of continuing. Discovery
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  Speaker 1: became one of the largeist and most contentious parts of
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  Speaker 1: that pre trial process. Prosecutors turned over enormous quantities of reports, photographs, videos,
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  Speaker 1: laboratory records, digital data, and witness information. The defense argued
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  Speaker 1: repeatedly that it needed additional material to understand how investigators
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  Speaker 1: had built the case. Disputes arose over genetic genealogy, cell
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  Speaker 1: phone analysis, expert disclosures, search warrants, and testing procedures. Some
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  Speaker 1: hearings were closed or partially sealed because they involved sensitive
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  Speaker 1: evidence that secrecy frustrated the public but did not necessarily
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  Speaker 1: indicate misconduct. Court's routinely restrict access when disclosure could prejudice
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  Speaker 1: a jury, expose private information, or compromise investigative methods. The
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  Speaker 1: shearer size of the evidence also made rapid preparation unrealistic.
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  Speaker 1: Each file had to be reviewed not merely for what
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  Speaker 1: it contained, but for how it related to thousands of
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  Speaker 1: other pieces of information. The case consequently moved much more
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  Speaker 1: slowly than many observers expected. After the arrest, the defense
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  Speaker 1: attacked the prosecution's case through multiple legal avenues. Rather than
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  Speaker 1: waiting passively for trial, attorneys challenged the grand jury process
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  Speaker 1: and argued that the indictment should be dismissed. They sought
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  Speaker 1: to suppress evidence obtained through searches of Coberger's apartment, vehicle, phone,
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  Speaker 1: and family residents. They scrutinized statements, warrants, affidavids, and the
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  Speaker 1: conduct of investigators. They also questioned the reliability and transparency
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  Speaker 1: of the forensic techniques used against them. These motions weren't
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  Speaker 1: proof that the defense possessed a hidden exonerating theory. They
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  Speaker 1: were the normal mechanisms through which lawyers tested whether the
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  Speaker 1: government had acted lawfully. At the same time, the volume
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  Speaker 1: of litigation showed how aggressively the defense intended to contest
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  Speaker 1: the case. Prosecutors defended the warrants and insisted that investigators
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  Speaker 1: had developed probable cause legitimate methods. The judge was required
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  Speaker 1: to separate meaningful constitutional challenges from arguments that went primarily
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  Speaker 1: to the weight of the evidence. Among the most important
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  Speaker 1: defense efforts was the attempt to challenge the search warrants
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  Speaker 1: through alleged omissions or misleading statements. A warrant affid David
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  Speaker 1: must give a judge a truthful and sufficiently complete basis
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  Speaker 1: for finding probable cause. The defense suggested that investigators had
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  Speaker 1: presented certain evidence more confidently than the underlying information. Justified
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  Speaker 1: vehicle identification, cell phone interpretation, and witness descriptions all received
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  Speaker 1: close scrutiny. If material falseids or omissions had been proven,
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  Speaker 1: some evidence could potentially have been suppressed. Suppression would not
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  Speaker 1: automatically have ended the prosecution, but it could have significantly
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  Speaker 1: weakened the state's case. The government answered that the affid
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  Speaker 1: David's fairly described the evidence known at the time. Courts
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  Speaker 1: generally grant investigators reasonable latitude when reviewing probables will cause determinations.
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  Speaker 1: The defense therefore faced a demanding burden in showing more
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  Speaker 1: than ordinary error or disagreement. These arguments demonstrated that the
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  Speaker 1: pre trial case concerned not only what evidence existed, but
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  Speaker 1: also how law enforcement had obtained it. All right, folks,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to wrap up episode two right here, and
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  Speaker 1: in the next episode we're gonna pick up where we
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  Speaker 1: left off. All the information that goes with this episode
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: can be found in the description box.