Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Murder In Moscow: The State Of Idaho And Their Confidence In The Case Against Kohberger (10/3/26)

Transcript

Murder In Moscow: The State Of Idaho And Their Confidence In The Case Against Kohberger (10/3/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Brian
0:05
Speaker 1: Koberger was back in court on Tuesday of this week,
0:09
Speaker 1: and there were several different issues that were being discussed
0:13
Speaker 1: by the defense and the prosecution in front of Judge
0:17
Speaker 1: John Judge in the Latah County courtroom. Several issues were
0:22
Speaker 1: heard and several issues were dealt with, but there were
0:25
Speaker 1: still a few issues that were still simmering on the
0:28
Speaker 1: back burner. especially surrounding things such as the grand jury
0:33
Speaker 1: testimony and DNA evidence that they say that they have
0:38
Speaker 1: not received yet. Now, the judge didn't make any rulings. However,
0:43
Speaker 1: he did set a July 14th deadline for some of
0:46
Speaker 1: these records to be turned over. So now that we're
0:50
Speaker 1: moving along here and things are certainly taking shape, what's
0:55
Speaker 1: the case that the state of Idaho is making against
0:58
Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger? Today's article is from Newsweek and the headline,
1:03
Speaker 1: The Case Against Brian Kohlberger. This article was authored by
1:08
Speaker 1: Khalida Rahman. Prosecutors have yet to reveal the full extent
1:13
Speaker 1: of their case against Brian Kohlberger, the man accused of
1:17
Speaker 1: stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year.
1:22
Speaker 1: But Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson filed the notice of
1:26
Speaker 1: his intent to seek the death penalty in court on Monday. Koberger, 28,
1:32
Speaker 1: is accused of breaking into a rental house near the
1:35
Speaker 1: university campus in Moscow, Idaho, and fatally stabbing Kaylee Gonsalves,
1:41
Speaker 1: Madison Mogan, Zanna Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. And the fact
1:45
Speaker 1: that they're going after this as a capital punishment case
1:49
Speaker 1: certainly leads me to believe that they have their ducks
1:51
Speaker 1: in a row. And as the prosecution, when you're going
1:54
Speaker 1: after a capital punishment case, you can't have any missteps.
1:58
Speaker 1: You can't step on anyone's constitutional rights. There can't be
2:01
Speaker 1: any sort of nonsense. Because if there is, like we
2:05
Speaker 1: saw with the Lori Vallow trial, the judge can step
2:09
Speaker 1: in and take the death penalty off of the table.
2:12
Speaker 1: So if the prosecutors really want to get that conviction
2:16
Speaker 1: when all is said and done, they have to make
2:18
Speaker 1: sure all of their stuff is buttoned up. The slaying
2:22
Speaker 1: stunned the community and garnered widespread attention. Kohlberger, who was
2:27
Speaker 1: a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University in
2:31
Speaker 1: nearby Pullman, was arrested at his parents' home in Pennsylvania
2:35
Speaker 1: in late December. Kohlberger was back in court on Tuesday.
2:40
Speaker 1: His attorneys are asking the courts to order prosecutors to
2:43
Speaker 1: turn over more evidence about the DNA found during the investigation.
2:48
Speaker 1: They also want more information about the searches of Koberger's
2:51
Speaker 1: phone and social media records, as well as the surveillance
2:55
Speaker 1: footage used to identify the make and model of his car.
3:00
Speaker 1: And like I said earlier, I think all of that
3:02
Speaker 1: is pretty reasonable. If I was on trial for my life,
3:06
Speaker 1: I'd want access to all of that information, right?
3:09
Speaker 2: Wouldn't you?
3:10
Speaker 1: So for me, I think that transparency is the best
3:14
Speaker 1: way to go. And that means from the prosecution as well.
3:18
Speaker 1: When you're being transparent and you're turning over everything you have,
3:22
Speaker 1: that signals to the rest of the world that you
3:24
Speaker 1: have a strong ass case and you're ready to rock
3:27
Speaker 1: and roll. But when you dog walk stuff, it might
3:30
Speaker 1: lead people to believe that you don't have a strong
3:33
Speaker 1: case and you're trying to buy more time. And that's
3:35
Speaker 1: what Brian Koberger's defense team has inferred with these court filings.
3:40
Speaker 1: And of course, the prosecution denies this. And they say
3:43
Speaker 1: that they've turned over everything that they have. And they're
3:46
Speaker 1: still waiting on FBI test results. So that's the deadline
3:50
Speaker 1: that Judge Judge set at the hearing on Tuesday. And
3:54
Speaker 1: that deadline is July 14th. That's when these records, according
3:59
Speaker 1: to Judge Judge, and the order that he put out
4:01
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, have to be turned over. So the FBI
4:05
Speaker 1: better kick their ass into gear and get all of
4:07
Speaker 1: this taken care of. In a recent motion to compel discovery,
4:10
Speaker 1: Kohlberger's defense attorney, Ann Taylor, said prosecutors have only provided
4:15
Speaker 1: the DNA profile that was taken from traces found on
4:19
Speaker 1: the snap of the knife sheath, not the DNA profiles
4:22
Speaker 1: belonging to three other unidentified males that were developed during
4:27
Speaker 1: the investigation. And for me, the fact that there's other
4:31
Speaker 1: profiles here was expected. If you go back and listen
4:35
Speaker 1: to some of the earlier episodes where we were talking
4:38
Speaker 1: about this, I said that I expect there to be
4:40
Speaker 1: profiles of unknown males throughout this house. It was a
4:44
Speaker 1: party house. People were there all the time, hanging out,
4:47
Speaker 1: having fun. Of course there's going to be profiles of
4:50
Speaker 1: unknown males. Now, if that profile was found on the
4:53
Speaker 1: knife sheath, then that would be a big deal. That
4:56
Speaker 1: would be earth shattering. That would be breaking news. But
4:59
Speaker 1: the fact that there were three other male profiles that
5:02
Speaker 1: were found at the scene and were put together through
5:06
Speaker 1: DNA patterns, Does not shock me at all. In fact,
5:09
Speaker 1: I'm shocked that it's only three. Considering how busy this
5:13
Speaker 1: house was, how much of a hub of activity it was,
5:16
Speaker 1: you would think that there'd be a shit ton of
5:18
Speaker 1: profiles that nobody has any idea about. Now, with that said,
5:22
Speaker 1: I think Ann Taylor is doing the right thing here
5:24
Speaker 1: for a defense attorney. She's trying to sow some seeds
5:27
Speaker 1: of doubt. Look, there's other people at this house. How
5:29
Speaker 1: do you know it's my client? And if it wasn't
5:32
Speaker 1: for that knife sheath, then Brian Kohlberger would have a
5:35
Speaker 1: legitimate chance at bashing some of this other evidence, and
5:40
Speaker 1: not just piece by piece, but overall, the totality of it.
5:45
Speaker 1: With the DNA evidence against him, though, it makes it
5:48
Speaker 1: very difficult for him and his team to come up
5:51
Speaker 1: with a proper defense. Other motions to compel discovery by
5:54
Speaker 1: Taylor argue that prosecutors have not handed over materials in
5:58
Speaker 1: the case that she believes contain exculpatory evidence. Kohlberger's attorney
6:04
Speaker 1: also filed a motion earlier in June, requesting more time
6:07
Speaker 1: to decide whether to offer a formal alibi. Now, usually,
6:13
Speaker 1: if you're not guilty of a crime, you want to
6:15
Speaker 1: add up an alibi and get it delivered. I was
6:19
Speaker 1: with so-and-so, we were playing video games, and smoking crank.
6:23
Speaker 2: Whatever it is.
6:24
Speaker 1: But, here, Brian Koberger, he doesn't know if he's offering
6:27
Speaker 1: one up. That leads me to believe he doesn't have one.
6:31
Speaker 1: If you have an alibi, that's one of the first
6:33
Speaker 1: things you're saying, right? Wasn't me, bro. Go check the tape.
6:36
Speaker 1: You got the wrong guy with bushy eyebrows. Police had
6:39
Speaker 1: released few details about their investigation until after Kohlberger was
6:44
Speaker 1: arrested at his parents' home in Albrightville, Pennsylvania on December
6:48
Speaker 1: 30th of 2022. A probable cause affidavit detailed how investigators
6:55
Speaker 1: pieced together DNA evidence, cell phone data, and surveillance video
7:00
Speaker 1: to connect Kohlberger to the crime. So it was all
7:03
Speaker 1: of that evidence in its totality that led to the
7:06
Speaker 1: probable cause affidavit, and all of that was glued together
7:10
Speaker 1: by the DNA profile found on the knife sheath. A
7:14
Speaker 1: probable cause affidavit detailed how investigators pieced together DNA evidence,
7:20
Speaker 1: cell phone data, and surveillance video to connect Kohlberger to
7:24
Speaker 1: the crime. In court documents, prosecutors said DNA taken from
7:28
Speaker 1: Kohlberger after his arrest is a statistical match to DNA
7:33
Speaker 1: found on a knife sheath inside the home where the
7:36
Speaker 1: students were killed. So the people out there who continue
7:39
Speaker 1: to think Kohlberger is innocent, I would truly love to
7:42
Speaker 1: know what leads you to believe that. With the DNA
7:46
Speaker 1: on the knife sheath, how do you explain that? Because
7:49
Speaker 1: I'm all ears, right? I'm not here to convict the
7:51
Speaker 1: dude before he goes to trial. I might think he's guilty,
7:55
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean I'm ready to just slam the
7:58
Speaker 1: jail door closed on him and forget about him. I
8:01
Speaker 1: want the process to play out and I want it
8:04
Speaker 1: to be transparent. But I don't know what anyone's thinking
8:07
Speaker 1: out there who thinks as of right now with everything
8:11
Speaker 1: that we know that Brian Kohlberger is being railroaded or
8:14
Speaker 1: that he is innocent of these crimes because until somebody
8:18
Speaker 1: can explain how this knife sheath with Brian Kohlberger's DNA
8:22
Speaker 1: ended up on a bed with two murdered girls, then
8:25
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to continue to think that the
8:27
Speaker 1: police have the right guy. Now, I'm sure there's people
8:31
Speaker 1: out there that would tell me that he was framed.
8:34
Speaker 1: Somebody snuck into the house, has his DNA on this sheath,
8:37
Speaker 1: and slid it under Maddie Mogan. All the while, mind you,
8:40
Speaker 1: not getting their own DNA on it. So, some mastermind criminal,
8:44
Speaker 1: Hannibal Lecter-level sophistication, decided to frame Brian Koberger. That's what
8:49
Speaker 1: you want me to believe? Well, you're going to have
8:51
Speaker 1: to prove that. And of course he's innocent and he
8:54
Speaker 1: doesn't have to prove his innocence. But if he's making
8:57
Speaker 1: an assertion saying that somebody's framing him, he's going to
9:01
Speaker 1: have to provide some evidence of that. And he's going
9:03
Speaker 1: to have to provide something of substance besides just saying, oh,
9:08
Speaker 1: I was framed. A white sedan that prosecutors say matched
9:11
Speaker 1: a Hyundai Elantra owned by Kohlberger was caught on surveillance
9:15
Speaker 1: footage repeatedly driving past the rental home around the time
9:19
Speaker 1: of the killings, the affidavit said. It said Koberger's phone
9:23
Speaker 1: was either turned off or on airplane mode around the
9:26
Speaker 1: time of the killings, but the data right before it
9:29
Speaker 1: was turned off suggesting he was heading in the direction
9:33
Speaker 1: of home while data after it was turned back on
9:36
Speaker 1: suggested he was heading away from there. So piecing it
9:40
Speaker 1: all together, they have not only Brian Koberger at the scene,
9:45
Speaker 1: but they have a complete timeline, at least as far
9:48
Speaker 1: as the surveillance gives them, as to when all of
9:52
Speaker 1: this was occurring, and to what Brian Kohlberger's movements were
9:56
Speaker 1: during this time period. So again, if that was all
9:59
Speaker 1: they had, I would say look this is a terrible
10:01
Speaker 1: case and this dude's gonna walk but there's a lot
10:05
Speaker 1: more here and when you have that DNA evidence on.
10:08
Speaker 2: That sheath it is very very very difficult.
10:12
Speaker 1: To challenge that and that's why they're going after the
10:15
Speaker 1: records for the personnel who were working on the DNA
10:18
Speaker 1: and They're going after all of these technicalities because they
10:22
Speaker 1: know the DNA itself and the fact that it's a
10:25
Speaker 1: statistical match. That sort of thing is unchallengeable for the defense.
10:30
Speaker 1: So they understand that they have to go after it
10:33
Speaker 1: from a technical standpoint. A recent filing by prosecutors detailed
10:37
Speaker 1: for the first time how law enforcement officials used investigative
10:41
Speaker 1: genetic genealogy to link DNA from the knife sheath to Kohlberger.
10:46
Speaker 1: They said their investigation... found that the DNA was at
10:49
Speaker 1: least 5.37 octillion times more likely to belong to Kohlberger
10:55
Speaker 1: than an unrelated member of the public. Please explain that.
11:00
Speaker 1: If it's not Kohlberger, then how the hell did that
11:02
Speaker 1: DNA profile get on the knife sheath and then have
11:06
Speaker 1: the knife sheath get into this home? Prosecutors have not
11:10
Speaker 1: revealed any details about a possible motive or whether they
11:14
Speaker 1: have any evidence tying Kohlberger to the victims. and they
11:17
Speaker 1: don't have to release that yet. That's all stuff that's
11:20
Speaker 1: going to come out later on down the road. In
11:23
Speaker 1: a recent court filing opposing prosecutors' motions seeking to protect
11:27
Speaker 1: information related to the use of investigative genetic genealogy in
11:32
Speaker 1: the case, an attorney representing Kohlberger said there is no
11:36
Speaker 1: connection between Kohlberger and the slain students. J. Weston Logson,
11:41
Speaker 1: an attorney with the Kootenai County Public Defender's Office, wrote
11:45
Speaker 1: that there is no explanation for the total lack of
11:48
Speaker 1: DNA evidence from the victims in Mr. Kohlberger's apartment, office, home,
11:52
Speaker 1: or vehicle. Let's not act like he was arrested the
11:55
Speaker 1: day after. The guy had, what, six, seven weeks to
11:59
Speaker 1: get rid of evidence, to clean things up? And I
12:02
Speaker 1: think that he had that car ready to go. Might
12:05
Speaker 1: have had some plastic in the car, something like that,
12:08
Speaker 1: so that when he got in that vehicle, whatever DNA
12:10
Speaker 1: he might have had on him transferred to the plastic,
12:13
Speaker 1: and he took that plastic and took it to a
12:15
Speaker 1: burn site. Why the hell did he take the long
12:18
Speaker 1: way home? That's a question everybody should be asking themselves.
12:21
Speaker 1: He also said it remains unclear what police relied on
12:25
Speaker 1: in focusing their investigation on Kohlberger. The most important evidence
12:29
Speaker 1: in the case for prosecutors is that which puts Kohlberger
12:33
Speaker 1: at the scene of the murders. Niyama Rahmani, a former
12:36
Speaker 1: federal prosecutor and president of West Coast trial lawyers, told Newsweek,
12:41
Speaker 1: and that's where I'm at. If it wasn't for that
12:45
Speaker 1: sheath with the DNA on it, I'd be much more
12:48
Speaker 1: open to hear stories about Brian Koberger possibly being innocent.
12:52
Speaker 1: But with that DNA evidence that ties him directly to
12:56
Speaker 1: all of this, I have a hard time coming up
12:58
Speaker 1: with a scenario where it leads to somebody that isn't
13:01
Speaker 1: Brian Koberger. The DNA is helpful, but it's only a
13:05
Speaker 1: single source and not as much as you would expect
13:07
Speaker 1: for such a bloody murder scene. And is that where
13:10
Speaker 1: Brian Koberger's training in criminology came in? Did he know
13:14
Speaker 1: how to protect himself, as in what to wear, how
13:17
Speaker 1: to prepare his car if he was going to be
13:20
Speaker 1: leaving with DNA on him? Remember, this guy is a
13:23
Speaker 1: PhD candidate and somebody who you would think knows about
13:28
Speaker 1: murder scenes and evidence that you're finding if you're performing
13:32
Speaker 1: a homicide investigation. So did he take some steps to
13:36
Speaker 1: safeguard himself from the transfer of the DNA?
13:39
Speaker 2: Very possible.
13:41
Speaker 1: The cell phone evidence appears to show Kohlberger leaving Washington State,
13:45
Speaker 1: but stops before he gets to Moscow, Idaho, Rachmani noted.
13:49
Speaker 1: The video surveillance shows a white Hyundai Elantra, but it's
13:53
Speaker 1: not definitive. He added, short of direct evidence putting Kohlberger
13:57
Speaker 1: at the scene, the next best evidence for the prosecution
14:01
Speaker 1: is evidence of the victim's blood, hair, or something similar
14:04
Speaker 1: in Kohlberger's vehicle, apartment, or parents' house. But according to
14:09
Speaker 1: defense filings, that evidence is lacking. Finally, although it isn't
14:14
Speaker 1: an element of the crime, the state would like to
14:16
Speaker 1: have some evidence of motive, whether it be stalking or otherwise.
14:21
Speaker 1: And here's where I think the fact that Kohlberger was
14:24
Speaker 1: allegedly lurking around the Mad Greek and the Idaho campus
14:29
Speaker 1: is going to come into play. You want to talk
14:31
Speaker 1: about motive? You want to talk about no connection to
14:34
Speaker 1: these girls? Well, no connection that's been released. Didn't we
14:38
Speaker 1: hear he had a picture of one of them on
14:39
Speaker 1: his cell phone? Wasn't he following them on Instagram? And
14:44
Speaker 1: if it's confirmed that he did go to the Mad
14:46
Speaker 1: Greek and the campus, well, there's your connection right there, folks.
14:50
Speaker 2: There's your stalking.
14:52
Speaker 1: The case has fundamentally changed now that the state has
14:55
Speaker 1: filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty
14:58
Speaker 1: against Kohlberger, said Michael McAuliffe, a former federal prosecutor and
15:02
Speaker 1: elected state attorney. The defense will continue to push back
15:07
Speaker 1: against the forensic and the DNA evidence developed during the
15:10
Speaker 1: investigation that links the defendant to the crime scene, McAuliffe
15:14
Speaker 1: told Newsweek. However, now that Kohlberger's possible execution is part
15:19
Speaker 1: of the case, the defense team.
15:21
Speaker 2: Will re-evaluate its goals, he said.
15:24
Speaker 1: Often in death penalty cases where there is strong evidence
15:27
Speaker 1: of guilt and particularly horrible facts, The defense strategy shifts
15:32
Speaker 1: from obtaining a not guilty outcome to saving the client's life.
15:37
Speaker 1: Simply the risk change for the defendant in a capital case.
15:41
Speaker 1: So that could be what they're pining for here as well. Remember,
15:44
Speaker 1: we don't know what's going on behind the scenes for
15:47
Speaker 1: the prosecution or for Brian Koberger's lawyers. We don't know
15:51
Speaker 1: what their exact strategy is going to be, but it
15:54
Speaker 1: certainly looks like they're going to try and challenge the
15:57
Speaker 1: technicalities here and not so much the evidence. Prosecutors presumably
16:02
Speaker 1: have solicited the views of the victim's families regarding the
16:06
Speaker 1: death penalty and will continue to consult them during every
16:09
Speaker 1: stage of the case, he said. However, the ultimate issue
16:14
Speaker 1: of whether to resolve the case with a guilty plea
16:17
Speaker 1: if the death penalty is withdrawn is the prosecutor's decision
16:21
Speaker 1: to make, McAuliffe said. While the defense had not publicly
16:25
Speaker 1: raised the possibility of a guilty plea, the issue will
16:28
Speaker 1: become more and more central to the case as it
16:31
Speaker 1: moves closer to trial. Under Idaho's death penalty statute, life
16:36
Speaker 1: without parole is an alternative to the death penalty. So
16:40
Speaker 1: it's possible that he ends up getting life without parole.
16:44
Speaker 1: But the government of Idaho has already come out and
16:47
Speaker 1: stated that they're looking for capital punishment. Last week, 2nd
16:52
Speaker 1: District Judge John Judge denied a request to lift a
16:55
Speaker 1: gag order in the case, but... did significantly narrow it.
16:59
Speaker 1: The revised YAG order prohibits any attorney representing the parties, victims,
17:04
Speaker 1: or witnesses in the case from making statements that could
17:08
Speaker 1: have a substantial likelihood of prejudicing or otherwise influencing the
17:14
Speaker 1: outcome of the case. They are allowed to comment about
17:17
Speaker 1: information contained in the public record, procedural issues, scheduling, and
17:23
Speaker 1: make statements that a lawyer would reasonably believe is required
17:27
Speaker 1: to protect their client from the substantial undue prejudicial effect
17:31
Speaker 1: of recent publicity not initiated by the lawyer or the
17:35
Speaker 1: lawyer's client. So in layman's terms, media and speculation by
17:41
Speaker 1: members of the public who are interested in the case
17:44
Speaker 1: on social media. That's what they're talking about here. But
17:48
Speaker 1: they are barred from sharing opinions about the guilt or
17:51
Speaker 1: innocence of a defendant outside of the courtroom, the identity
17:55
Speaker 1: or nature of evidence expected to be presented at trial,
17:59
Speaker 1: or information that they know wouldn't be admitted in court.
18:03
Speaker 1: They also cannot speak about the character or credibility of
18:07
Speaker 1: a witness, expected testimony, or the likelihood of a plea deal.
18:11
Speaker 1: So it's pared back significantly, no doubt about it. And
18:15
Speaker 1: the fact that they can answer procedural questions The fact
18:18
Speaker 1: that they can answer questions that don't have to do
18:21
Speaker 1: with the actual evidence is a big deal. Because law
18:24
Speaker 1: enforcement was turtling up before and not wanting to answer
18:28
Speaker 1: basic questions about, you know, how much it cost for
18:31
Speaker 1: the investigation, stuff like that. Stuff that had nothing to
18:35
Speaker 1: do with the actual prosecution. but they were using the
18:39
Speaker 1: gag order to shield themselves from answering any questions whatsoever.
18:43
Speaker 1: Now that's not possible anymore. But now that this is
18:46
Speaker 1: a death penalty case, things have moved to a different level,
18:50
Speaker 1: and the case against Brian Kohlberger needs to be airtight.
18:54
Speaker 1: All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
18:57
Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with the episode can
18:59
Speaker 1: be found in the description box.
19:03
Speaker 2: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program.
19:07
Speaker 1: As we all know at this point, Brian Koberger was
19:11
Speaker 1: a student and a teaching assistant at Washington State University
19:16
Speaker 1: on the Pullman campus. Well, now we're hearing from some
19:20
Speaker 1: of his students that the emails that he had sent
19:23
Speaker 1: them have all disappeared. So it looks like Brian Koberger
19:28
Speaker 1: and his communications with his students and classmates have all
19:31
Speaker 1: been purged from the system. Now, that doesn't mean they
19:35
Speaker 1: went away. It just means they're no longer accessible to
19:38
Speaker 1: the people that they were sent to. My guess is
19:41
Speaker 1: they were all swooped up with those digital warrants that
19:44
Speaker 1: we heard about at the very beginning of all of this. Remember,
19:47
Speaker 1: there were the 50 search warrants that we had heard about.
19:50
Speaker 1: pretty much right at the beginning of the investigation. And
19:54
Speaker 1: those search warrants now, it seems, were being used to
19:57
Speaker 1: go through the digital life of Brian Koberger. And who
20:01
Speaker 1: knows what they found with that digital warrant, right? Who
20:05
Speaker 1: knows what was on his computer, what he was Googling
20:08
Speaker 1: around on, what he was searching, what he was researching. Now,
20:11
Speaker 1: of course, his defense will say, look, he's a criminology PhD.
20:15
Speaker 1: That's why he's researching all this wild stuff. But that
20:18
Speaker 1: went out the window the second he was suspected of
20:21
Speaker 1: being a murderer. Before that's part of your job. Now
20:26
Speaker 1: it's part of your planning process, right? So that's what
20:29
Speaker 1: the police are going to try and do. They're going
20:31
Speaker 1: to continue to try and build that profile. They're going
20:34
Speaker 1: to continue to get all of this evidence, whether it's
20:37
Speaker 1: digital or otherwise, so they can continue to stack these
20:42
Speaker 1: blocks one on top of the other and eventually get
20:45
Speaker 1: a conviction of Brian Koberger. Today, we have an article
20:49
Speaker 1: from Newsweek.com. And the headline, Brian Koberger's emails disappeared from
20:55
Speaker 1: the school system, according to a former student. This article
21:00
Speaker 1: was authored by Matthew Impelli. Emails from Brian Koberger, the
21:07
Speaker 1: suspect in the University of Idaho murders, have reportedly disappeared
21:11
Speaker 1: from Washington State University's system following his arrest, according to
21:16
Speaker 1: one former student of his.
21:18
Speaker 2: So they purged them for sure.
21:20
Speaker 1: And my guess is, like I said earlier, they move
21:23
Speaker 1: them over to the investigators so that they become evidence now.
21:27
Speaker 1: And with the nature of these investigations and leaks and
21:29
Speaker 1: all of that, they want to make sure that they're
21:32
Speaker 1: keeping all of this evidence protected and secured. They don't
21:36
Speaker 1: want to have a chain of custody issue. They don't
21:38
Speaker 1: want to hear any nonsense from the defense when it's
21:41
Speaker 1: time for trial. And remember, that's what everything's about now
21:45
Speaker 1: at this point, making sure you secure evidence, have a
21:48
Speaker 1: chain of custody of that evidence, And then that way,
21:52
Speaker 1: when all of this stuff gets into the courtroom, everything's
21:55
Speaker 1: admissible and nothing gets thrown out. The last thing you
21:59
Speaker 1: want to do for somebody like Brian Koberger, who is
22:02
Speaker 1: out there swimming around in the middle of the ocean
22:05
Speaker 1: with nothing to grab onto, is to throw them a
22:08
Speaker 1: life preserver. So the prosecution is going to want to
22:11
Speaker 1: stay on their game and they're going to want to
22:13
Speaker 1: make sure that they're keeping all of this stuff properly
22:16
Speaker 1: maintained and handled within the chain of custody. While speaking
22:21
Speaker 1: with the Washington Post on Monday, a student who had
22:24
Speaker 1: Koberger as a teacher assistant in a criminal law class
22:27
Speaker 1: last year said emails from the 28-year-old were recently deleted
22:32
Speaker 1: from the university system.
22:35
Speaker 2: Now, again.
22:36
Speaker 1: Just because they're deleted from the system doesn't mean that
22:39
Speaker 1: the authorities don't have them. And my guess is before
22:43
Speaker 1: they were deleted, they were given over to the investigators.
22:47
Speaker 1: Because remember, they were building this whole profile for a
22:50
Speaker 1: lot longer than we even knew. By late November, Brian
22:54
Speaker 1: Koberger was on their radar and they were already building
22:57
Speaker 1: their profile. He's still listed as a contact, but all
23:02
Speaker 1: of our emails from him are gone, the student, who
23:05
Speaker 1: was not identified, told the newspaper. On December 30th, Kohlberger
23:10
Speaker 1: was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightville, Pennsylvania, in
23:14
Speaker 1: connection with the November 13th murders of Kaylee Gonsalves, Madison Mogan,
23:20
Speaker 1: Zanna Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin. Kohlberger was charged with four
23:25
Speaker 1: counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
23:29
Speaker 1: All four victims were found stabbed to death in their
23:32
Speaker 1: beds in an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho. Last week,
23:37
Speaker 1: Koberger was extradited from Pennsylvania to Idaho, where he is
23:41
Speaker 1: being charged. Koberger's public defender in Pennsylvania, Jason Labar, said
23:46
Speaker 1: in a statement that his client was eager to be
23:49
Speaker 1: exonerated and is looking forward to resolving these matters as
23:53
Speaker 1: promptly as possible. Well, you can do that by just,
23:56
Speaker 1: you know, Admitting what you did, just confess and be
23:59
Speaker 1: done with it. Why are you going to drag these
24:03
Speaker 1: families through a long ass trial where they're going to
24:06
Speaker 1: have to relive all of this?
24:08
Speaker 2: Oh, that's right. Because you're a degenerate bastard. That's why.
24:12
Speaker 1: Following his arrest, it was revealed in the probable cause
24:15
Speaker 1: affidavit that was released by police that Koberger was a
24:19
Speaker 1: PhD student in the criminology department at WSU. In addition,
24:24
Speaker 1: he received his bachelor's degree in criminology from DeSalas University
24:29
Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. I mean, imagine a criminologist, right? A PhD candidate,
24:35
Speaker 1: a guy with all of these accolades of schooling and
24:39
Speaker 1: how intelligent he is, leaves a knife sheath at the
24:42
Speaker 1: scene of the crime, drives his own vehicle to the crime.
24:46
Speaker 1: And for the grand finale of stupidity, Olga Gutz over
24:50
Speaker 1: here took his phone with him, while he was committing
24:53
Speaker 1: these crimes. And it just once again hammers home the
24:57
Speaker 1: fact you could have all the book smarts in the world,
25:00
Speaker 1: but if you have no common sense, you are sunk.
25:05
Speaker 1: On Monday, another student at Washington State University in the
25:08
Speaker 1: criminal justice program spoke to the Idaho statesman about his
25:12
Speaker 1: experiences with Koberger. He seemed gregarious and outgoing. That was
25:19
Speaker 1: really the only impression that I got, Ben Roberts told
25:22
Speaker 1: the newspaper. He sat front and center and was not
25:26
Speaker 1: hiding or tucking back in the back. It's hard to
25:28
Speaker 1: see a pattern emerging while you're in the classroom, but
25:31
Speaker 1: he would tend to push back when a female was
25:34
Speaker 1: talking more than a male talking. He was more keen
25:37
Speaker 1: on asking probing questions and things like that. So in
25:41
Speaker 1: a whole class full of criminologists, after committing this crime,
25:46
Speaker 1: nobody suspected him? Nobody knew that old boy was driving
25:50
Speaker 1: around in a white Elantra? You have a whole entire
25:55
Speaker 1: classroom of wannabe Clarice Starlings, and we don't have anybody
26:00
Speaker 1: who was hip to the fact that this dude's driving
26:02
Speaker 1: around in a white Hyundai Elantra, huh?
26:04
Speaker 2: All right. Okay, I guess.
26:08
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, another student who spoke on the condition of anonymity
26:12
Speaker 1: told the Idaho statesman that Koberger was completely silent. when
26:16
Speaker 1: the class spoke about the murders. Well, you would think, right?
26:20
Speaker 1: Let me sit back here in the cut and keep
26:22
Speaker 1: my mouth shut while they're talking about four horrific murders
26:25
Speaker 1: that I just committed. So he sits back, doesn't say
26:30
Speaker 1: anything where he's usually engaging in these conversations, where he's
26:35
Speaker 1: usually taking part, asking probing questions and all of that stuff.
26:40
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden it comes to these murders
26:43
Speaker 1: and he clams up and old boy has nothing to say.
26:46
Speaker 1: And once again, on its own, that wouldn't be that
26:49
Speaker 1: big of a deal, right? All right, maybe he had
26:50
Speaker 1: a bad day. Maybe it's a story that doesn't interest him.
26:54
Speaker 1: But when you look at all of the other evidence
26:56
Speaker 1: that's been compiled, you look at everything else that's pointing
26:59
Speaker 1: in the Brian Koberger, then you have to start looking
27:02
Speaker 1: for behavioral changes in the wake of these murders. And well,
27:06
Speaker 1: we have certainly seen that, haven't we? We have heard
27:09
Speaker 1: it from numerous people now, numerous sources, and numerous people
27:14
Speaker 1: who were either A, taking classes he was teaching or
27:18
Speaker 1: classmates in classes he was attending. The murder sparked a
27:22
Speaker 1: large investigation by the Moscow Police Department and the FBI,
27:26
Speaker 1: while also leading to numerous rumors and speculations to surface
27:31
Speaker 1: on social media by online sleuths. And if I was
27:34
Speaker 1: one of these dudes who was pointed to by all
27:37
Speaker 1: of these knuckleheads online, I'd be suing the shit out
27:40
Speaker 1: of everybody. I'd go get my lawyer and I would
27:44
Speaker 1: sue every last person who was running their yap, who
27:47
Speaker 1: had any kind of following or who had any kind of.
27:50
Speaker 2: You know, media reach.
27:53
Speaker 1: People got to be more careful when they're talking out
27:55
Speaker 1: of the side of their neck about people. At the
27:57
Speaker 1: very least, wait until somebody is considered a suspect before
28:01
Speaker 1: you unload on them. But instead, what we had was
28:04
Speaker 1: a bunch of crazy folks running around, acting the fool,
28:08
Speaker 1: thinking that they knew what was going on behind the scenes.
28:11
Speaker 1: And that led to a lot of unneeded speculation about
28:15
Speaker 1: who might have done this. Now, you want to speculate
28:18
Speaker 1: about how it happened, the profile of the person it
28:22
Speaker 1: might have been.
28:23
Speaker 2: That's one thing.
28:24
Speaker 1: But when you start naming people by their government name
28:27
Speaker 1: on the internet and in other places, well, you, my friend,
28:31
Speaker 1: are now the asshole. One theory that gained traction on
28:36
Speaker 1: social media discussed the killer being a hooded man that
28:39
Speaker 1: was seen in surveillance footage of Mogan and Gonsalves at
28:42
Speaker 1: a food truck hours before they were killed. Now remember
28:47
Speaker 1: all of the nonsense and hubbub around Hoodie Guy? I
28:52
Speaker 1: have my reservations when it comes to trusting the authorities,
28:56
Speaker 1: but boy oh boy, there's no way that if it
28:59
Speaker 1: was Hoodie Guy that they were going to let him
29:01
Speaker 1: run free for as long as he was running free.
29:04
Speaker 1: You don't think he gave his DNA up? You don't
29:06
Speaker 1: think he sat down and had interviews with these investigators?
29:10
Speaker 1: Of course he did. And while everybody was going after
29:16
Speaker 1: Hoodie Guy and Jack and the rest of them, Brian
29:19
Speaker 1: Koberger was sitting back laughing his ass off. I would
29:23
Speaker 1: love to say that stuff like this is unique to
29:25
Speaker 1: this case, but it's not. Anytime you have a high
29:29
Speaker 1: profile case, you're going to have the crazies come out
29:32
Speaker 1: of the woodwork. But as far as Brian Koberger and
29:36
Speaker 1: the emails disappearing from the system, my guess is that
29:39
Speaker 1: those emails are now in the possession of the authorities
29:43
Speaker 1: and they have been folded into the overall investigation to
29:48
Speaker 1: help get a conviction at the end of this trial.
29:52
Speaker 1: All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
29:54
Speaker 1: If you'd like to contact me, you can do that
29:56
Speaker 1: at bobbycapucci at protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com. You can
30:06
Speaker 1: also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. The
30:12
Speaker 1: link that I discussed can be found in the description box.
30:17
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
30:20
Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to spin back up to Moscow,
30:23
Speaker 1: and we're going to check in on Brian Koberger and
30:25
Speaker 1: what's cooking in Judge John Judge's courtroom. And to do that,
30:30
Speaker 1: we have an article from the U.S.
30:31
Speaker 2: Sun.
30:32
Speaker 1: Headline, Evidence Issues. Idaho suspect Brian Koberger's team could use
30:37
Speaker 1: the same tactic as cult mom Lori Vallow to avoid
30:40
Speaker 1: the death penalty if convicted.
30:42
Speaker 2: And we know that.
30:43
Speaker 1: Lori Vallow was able to use the fact that the
30:46
Speaker 1: prosecution didn't turn over all of the discoverable evidence to
30:51
Speaker 1: the defense in a timely manner. And that led to
30:53
Speaker 1: them being sanctioned by Lori Vallow not getting the death penalty.
30:58
Speaker 1: And remember, that was in Idaho as well. So there
31:00
Speaker 1: is precedent. And I've said this from the very beginning.
31:04
Speaker 1: If the prosecution isn't on their game and if they're
31:06
Speaker 1: not doing it the right way, they're going to get slapped.
31:10
Speaker 1: Idaho has already shown us that the court is not
31:13
Speaker 1: going to abide by it. So hopefully that's avoided here. But,
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, it's very possible that if they are slow
31:19
Speaker 1: walking this to a point where Judge Judge finds it
31:22
Speaker 1: to be something that they can be sanctioned for, I
31:26
Speaker 1: would not be shocked to see them get sanctioned. And
31:28
Speaker 1: if that did come to pass, that most certainly could
31:30
Speaker 1: lead to Brian Koberger not getting the death penalty. And
31:34
Speaker 1: obviously Judge Judge isn't there yet. He hasn't slapped the
31:38
Speaker 1: prosecution with sanctions or anything like that. But he has
31:41
Speaker 1: been moving in the direction of trying to push this along.
31:45
Speaker 1: And hopefully the FBI gets their shit together and turns
31:48
Speaker 1: over whatever sort of documentation they're holding out on. This
31:53
Speaker 1: article was authored by Katie Forrester. Idaho quadruple murder suspect
31:58
Speaker 1: Brian Koberger's defense team may use the same tactic as
32:01
Speaker 1: cult mom Lori Vallow to escape the death penalty if
32:04
Speaker 1: he's convicted, an expert claims. Kohlberger, 29, stands accused of
32:09
Speaker 1: stabbing to death four University of Idaho students in their
32:12
Speaker 1: beds on November 13, 2022. He has pleaded not guilty
32:16
Speaker 1: to killing Madison Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Zanna Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
32:22
Speaker 1: Kohlberger did not respond when asked how he pleaded at
32:25
Speaker 1: his arraignment, so a judge entered not guilty pleas for him.
32:28
Speaker 1: And that was all part of his tactic, right? That
32:30
Speaker 1: was all part of his defense strategy, not to enter
32:33
Speaker 1: a plea and have the judge do it for him.
32:36
Speaker 1: And remember, every state's different. In Idaho, this is something
32:39
Speaker 1: that sometimes people do. And they avoid having, you know,
32:43
Speaker 1: a plea put in, and they let the judge put
32:45
Speaker 1: the plea in. That way, later on down the road,
32:47
Speaker 1: they can try and use that during their appeal. A
32:50
Speaker 1: trial date is expected to be set in coming weeks,
32:52
Speaker 1: and prosecutors have said that they will seek the death
32:55
Speaker 1: penalty if he is convicted. New court documents show his
32:58
Speaker 1: legal team plans to use cell phone tower data to
33:01
Speaker 1: show he was not at the Moscow home where the
33:03
Speaker 1: murders took place in the early hours.
33:06
Speaker 2: Of the morning.
33:07
Speaker 1: Wait, I thought that the cell phone data was unreliable.
33:10
Speaker 1: Remember that whole entire nonsensical narrative that people were pitching? Oh, well,
33:15
Speaker 1: you can't count on the cell phone data in the
33:17
Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger case.
33:18
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, right, sure. Just like you couldn't with Murdaugh, right?
33:22
Speaker 2: Give me a break.
33:23
Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger is really going to try and tell us
33:26
Speaker 1: that the cell phone data is going to point to
33:28
Speaker 1: him not being the guy, okay, considering all of the
33:31
Speaker 1: evidence we've seen, and considering the most important piece of evidence,
33:35
Speaker 1: you know, the sheath with his DNA on it under
33:38
Speaker 1: a couple of dead girls, yeah, probably going to be
33:41
Speaker 1: pretty difficult to challenge all of that by using cell
33:44
Speaker 1: phone data, especially considering the prosecution is going to add
33:48
Speaker 1: their own experts who have their own story to tell,
33:52
Speaker 1: their own narrative to pitch, and then it'll be up
33:54
Speaker 1: to the jury to as to which experts they're going
33:56
Speaker 1: to believe. Court documents providing an alibi for Kohlberger stated
34:01
Speaker 1: he was out driving in the early morning hours of
34:04
Speaker 1: November 13, 2022, as he often did to hike and
34:08
Speaker 1: run and or see the moon and stars. He drove
34:11
Speaker 1: throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho,
34:14
Speaker 1: including Wabawai Park. As his team gears up to rigorously
34:19
Speaker 1: defend him, former federal prosecutor Nima Rahmani, who is not
34:23
Speaker 1: connected to the case, has revealed how the trial may
34:26
Speaker 1: pan out. Rahmani, president of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers,
34:31
Speaker 1: told the U.S. Sun the defense is throwing everything they
34:33
Speaker 1: can out there to get the death penalty off the table.
34:36
Speaker 1: Arguing that the prosecution hasn't complied with its discovery obligations
34:40
Speaker 1: worked in a recent high-profile Idaho case. So yeah, why
34:44
Speaker 1: not take a shot, right? You can't blame Ann Taylor
34:46
Speaker 1: for taking her shot. This is her job. This is
34:49
Speaker 1: what she is supposed to do. She has to challenge
34:52
Speaker 1: this evidence at every turn. And so far, that's what
34:54
Speaker 1: she's been doing. I know a lot of people don't
34:57
Speaker 1: like it, just like a lot of people don't like
34:59
Speaker 1: the way Alan Jackson's conducting himself when it comes to
35:01
Speaker 1: the Karen Reid trial. But if you're on trial for
35:04
Speaker 1: your life, you better damn well hope that you have
35:08
Speaker 1: vigorous representation. People that are going to be out there
35:11
Speaker 1: turning over every stone, kicking in every door, looking for
35:15
Speaker 1: some kind of evidence of your innocence. And that's exactly
35:19
Speaker 1: what Ann Taylor is attempting to do here. Do I
35:21
Speaker 1: think she's going to be successful? No. But she has
35:24
Speaker 1: to shoot her shot, especially considering what we just saw
35:27
Speaker 1: with Lori Vallow. The judge in the Lori Vallow case
35:30
Speaker 1: ruled that prosecutors couldn't pursue the death penalty because they
35:33
Speaker 1: hadn't turned over discovery to her lawyers. This is something
35:37
Speaker 1: that appellate courts will consider too. And they're a mandatory
35:39
Speaker 1: state and federal appeals in capital cases. So even if
35:43
Speaker 1: he does get found guilty and he's convicted of capital murder, well,
35:48
Speaker 1: it's going to take a while for him to be punished.
35:50
Speaker 1: Just like with Chad Daybell's bitch ass, probably decades. And
35:53
Speaker 1: I think that's something that has to be changed. Now, look,
35:56
Speaker 1: I understand. If somebody is sentenced to death, they should
36:00
Speaker 1: be able to appeal the process, right? But should they
36:02
Speaker 1: be able to gum up justice for decades? I don't
36:05
Speaker 1: think so.
36:06
Speaker 2: Guess what?
36:07
Speaker 1: The people who were murdered? They don't have a say.
36:10
Speaker 1: So it's up to society to make sure that these
36:12
Speaker 1: people are punished. And I think that there should be
36:14
Speaker 1: some kind of cap on the period of time that
36:17
Speaker 1: you can, you know, draw this all out. A death
36:20
Speaker 1: sentence should be that. A death sentence. Not an invitation
36:24
Speaker 1: to sit on death row for four or five decades.
36:29
Speaker 1: Vallow was sentenced to life without parole after an Idaho
36:32
Speaker 1: jury found her guilty on all charges for her role.
36:35
Speaker 1: in the deaths of her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan, her
36:38
Speaker 1: 7-year-old adopted son, Joshua J.J. Vallow, and her husband's first wife,
36:42
Speaker 1: Tammy Daybell. At the time, a defense motion stated that
36:46
Speaker 1: the death penalty should be dismissed because of media saturation,
36:50
Speaker 1: multiple discovery violations by the government, Vallow's mental status, and
36:54
Speaker 1: the inability of the state to effectively administer the death
36:57
Speaker 1: penalty should the jury decide to impose it. Well, that's
37:01
Speaker 1: done now. Because they have moved to using a firing
37:05
Speaker 1: squad if they can't get the proper, you know, poison
37:08
Speaker 1: to inject into somebody for the lethal injection. So that
37:12
Speaker 1: goes out the window. Some of this other stuff, though,
37:14
Speaker 1: is valid. The discovery violations especially. If they're found to
37:19
Speaker 1: be in violation of that, it's going to be an issue, folks.
37:22
Speaker 1: There is no doubt about it. So we have to
37:24
Speaker 1: keep our eye on what Judge Judge is ruling here,
37:26
Speaker 1: and certainly keep an eye on the docket. And as
37:28
Speaker 1: far as that goes, there haven't really been that many
37:31
Speaker 1: filings of note lately... Nothing worth diving into. Everything's been,
37:35
Speaker 1: you know, a couple paragraphs, maybe, if that. One page,
37:39
Speaker 1: two pages. Nothing worth diving into. But there are some
37:43
Speaker 1: orders on the way, at least we think, and those
37:46
Speaker 1: orders are going to be significant. They're going to tell
37:49
Speaker 1: the tale about what happens moving forward, right? Trial date, etc.
37:54
Speaker 1: Fremont County District Judge Stephen Boyce ruled in favor of
37:57
Speaker 1: the motion to dismiss... In Koberger's case, Rachmani says the
38:01
Speaker 1: defense will also attack the cell site evidence and the DNA,
38:05
Speaker 1: which was collected from the sheath of a knife found
38:07
Speaker 1: at the scene. Good luck with that. And I don't
38:10
Speaker 1: know how you're going to attack the cell phone data
38:12
Speaker 1: and then attempt to utilize it on your own behalf.
38:15
Speaker 1: Either the cell phone data is fugazi or it's not.
38:18
Speaker 1: You can't have it both ways. Authorities claim the DNA
38:22
Speaker 1: was a statistical match to a sample from trash recovered
38:25
Speaker 1: from the Koberger family residence. Court documents state, Rachmani said
38:29
Speaker 1: they'll argue the cell phone evidence isn't reliable and that
38:32
Speaker 1: it isn't synced with the video of the white Hyundai Elantra.
38:36
Speaker 1: They'll also attack the single-source DNA that was found at
38:38
Speaker 1: the scene of the murders, saying that it was transferred.
38:41
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, good luck with that. Who transferred it? The Chupacabra?
38:45
Speaker 2: Bigfoot, maybe?
38:47
Speaker 1: There is not a lot of information that has been
38:49
Speaker 1: made public because of the very broad gag order in
38:52
Speaker 1: the case, so we'll have to wait until trial to
38:54
Speaker 1: find out what additional evidence the state has. Well, that's true,
38:58
Speaker 1: but if you follow along with the docket and you
39:00
Speaker 1: see what's being added to the court files, it gives
39:04
Speaker 1: you a little bit of a look at what's going
39:06
Speaker 1: on and kind of an idea of where things are going.
39:09
Speaker 1: And while all of this is possible, we haven't seen
39:12
Speaker 1: any signs of any of this happening. Judge Judge hasn't
39:15
Speaker 1: really admonished the prosecutors at all yet. So I think
39:18
Speaker 1: it's a little early to talk about anything like this
39:20
Speaker 1: happening when it comes to Brian Koberger because we haven't
39:23
Speaker 1: seen any signs from the judge saying, that he's going
39:26
Speaker 1: to smack the prosecutors, but it's certainly something that's in
39:29
Speaker 1: the cards. maybe certainly something that we can't just ignore
39:33
Speaker 1: and say oh well that's not going to happen we
39:36
Speaker 1: have to see what's what right we have to make
39:38
Speaker 1: sure that the prosecution has followed all of the rules
39:41
Speaker 1: that have been set forth by the state of Idaho
39:44
Speaker 1: when it comes to prosecuting a case and if they
39:46
Speaker 1: haven't they're going to pay a price The cell data argument.
39:50
Speaker 1: The latest court document said a cell site location information
39:53
Speaker 1: expert will testify in court that data shows Koberger's mobile
39:57
Speaker 1: device was south of Pullman, Washington and west of Moscow,
40:01
Speaker 1: Idaho on November 13th, 2022. That Brian Koberger's mobile device
40:05
Speaker 1: did not travel east on the Moscow-Pullman Highway in the
40:09
Speaker 1: early morning hours of November 13th and thus could not
40:12
Speaker 1: be the vehicle captured on video along the Moscow-Pullman Highway
40:16
Speaker 1: near Floyd's Cannabis Shop. Investigators had previously claimed in an
40:21
Speaker 1: earlier affidavit that Kohlberger's phone was in Pullman around 2.47 a.m.,
40:26
Speaker 1: the night of the murders, but it suddenly stopped connecting
40:28
Speaker 1: to the cell network. Rachmani feels the prosecution has a
40:32
Speaker 1: strong case, but he believes it's not a slam dunk
40:35
Speaker 1: as the killer managed to cover their tracks. Yeah, I
40:38
Speaker 1: don't buy that. I mean, I get it, right? You
40:41
Speaker 1: want to keep it in the news or whatever, but
40:43
Speaker 1: cover his tracks?
40:44
Speaker 2: How?
40:45
Speaker 1: How was he able to cover his tracks? Let's not
40:47
Speaker 1: forget the 500-pound gorilla in the room. And that is
40:51
Speaker 1: the DNA evidence that was recovered off of the knife sheath.
40:55
Speaker 1: All of this other stuff is just smoke and mirrors.
40:58
Speaker 1: Until he can figure out how to challenge that DNA
41:01
Speaker 1: on that knife sheath and say it's not.
41:03
Speaker 2: His, bro is cooked.
41:06
Speaker 1: There's also no clear evidence of motive yet, though he
41:09
Speaker 1: may have been stalking one of the victims, he added. Well,
41:12
Speaker 1: I think that maybe not stalking, but we know that
41:16
Speaker 1: at the very least, he was interacting with Madison Mogan
41:20
Speaker 1: as far as her social media goes, and he was
41:23
Speaker 1: probably following her around. We've talked about this at length,
41:26
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to beat that dead horse, but
41:29
Speaker 1: there's no doubt that he had a run-in with Madison
41:31
Speaker 1: at some point. Koberger, who was a PhD criminology student,
41:35
Speaker 1: is being defended by attorney Ann Taylor, the Kootenai County
41:39
Speaker 1: public defender, who reportedly bills at $ 200 an hour. Defense
41:43
Speaker 1: attorneys believe everyone is entitled to a legal defense, and
41:47
Speaker 1: many of them oppose the death penalty, Rachmani said. If
41:50
Speaker 1: Kohlberger is convicted, but they save his life, that's a
41:53
Speaker 1: win for the defense. And make no mistake, that's what
41:56
Speaker 1: this is all about. Getting rid of the death penalty.
41:59
Speaker 1: Ann Taylor is not a stupid woman. This is a
42:01
Speaker 1: lady who understands her job, she knows the assignment, and
42:05
Speaker 1: she's doing everything in her power to make sure that
42:07
Speaker 1: her client gets a fair shake. But at the end
42:11
Speaker 1: of the day, you can only do so much, right?
42:14
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter who you are as far as an attorney goes.
42:17
Speaker 1: If your client is cooked, your client is cooked. And
42:20
Speaker 1: I think that's where we're at with Kohlberger. And I
42:22
Speaker 1: think the only thing that they're looking at at this
42:25
Speaker 1: point is to try and get him off of the
42:27
Speaker 1: death penalty. The conventional wisdom is that Kohlberger won't take
42:31
Speaker 1: the stand, at least during the guilt phase. He may
42:34
Speaker 1: testify in the penalty phase in an effort to save
42:37
Speaker 1: his life if convicted, but I don't think Kohlberger will
42:40
Speaker 1: plead guilty and there won't be any deal offered. This
42:43
Speaker 1: is one of the worst murders in Idaho state history.
42:45
Speaker 1: And I think at this point, the ship has sailed
42:47
Speaker 1: for any kind of deal. What could Kohlberger possibly offer?
42:51
Speaker 1: Maybe plead guilty to all of the murders and spare
42:54
Speaker 1: the family members a what's to be obviously brutal trial.
42:58
Speaker 1: But besides that, he has nothing to offer up. So
43:00
Speaker 1: why should the prosecution give him one single inch? Kohlberger
43:05
Speaker 1: has not shown any emotion during the court hearings. leading
43:08
Speaker 1: up to his murder trial, and has even been pictured
43:11
Speaker 1: smirking on occasion. Kohlberger's demeanor has been as expected, Rachmani said.
43:16
Speaker 1: He won't be addressing the court or the public directly.
43:18
Speaker 1: I expect family members to attend every day of the trial.
43:23
Speaker 1: First-degree murder has a minimum mandatory life sentence in Idaho,
43:26
Speaker 1: so if Kohlberger is convicted and loses his appeals, he
43:29
Speaker 1: will be sentenced to death or die in prison. Murderers
43:33
Speaker 1: have gotten off in the past, but death penalty qualified
43:35
Speaker 1: juries are more likely to convict. If they don't find
43:39
Speaker 1: him guilty, the more likely result is a hung jury,
43:42
Speaker 1: but outright acquittal is highly unlikely. The latest court filing
43:46
Speaker 1: in the case, seen by the U.S. Sun, states the
43:48
Speaker 1: next hearing is scheduled for Thursday, June 27th at 10 a.m.,
43:52
Speaker 1: with Kohlberger likely in attendance. It will be live-streamed on
43:56
Speaker 1: the court's YouTube channel. So like usual, once we get
43:59
Speaker 1: some more information and have some more to go on,
44:02
Speaker 1: After the hearing occurs, we'll have some more to add
44:05
Speaker 1: to the catalog. But for now, that's where everything stands.
44:09
Speaker 1: That's where we're at up in Moscow. And hopefully after
44:12
Speaker 1: this hearing on Thursday, we know a little bit more
44:14
Speaker 1: about the lay of the land and hopefully we get
44:17
Speaker 1: a trial date locked in. But until then, all of
44:20
Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
44:23
Speaker 1: in the description box.