Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger Attempts To Get DNA Evidence Tossed

Transcript

Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger Attempts To Get DNA Evidence Tossed · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Back
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in October, Judge Judge set a deadline for the prosecution
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to turn over the DNA evidence that they say led
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: them to Brian Kohlberger. Now, the idea behind all of
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this is for Judge Judge to take a look at
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: all of it and decide what he's going to have
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: turned over to the defense and what is going to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: be protected under the statutes of the Idaho Code. And
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of course, this is significant for both sides. The most
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: important evidence that's been collected by the prosecution is based
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: on this DNA evidence. And for the defense, of course,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: they want to get all of this stuff thrown out
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: if they can, because, well, the DNA evidence is damning.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And they certainly understand that if that evidence is admitted,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a very, very long day for
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger and their defense. So they're doing everything they
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: possibly can to attack that DNA and to attack how
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: it was collected. And, you know, they're looking at things
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: like chain of custody. They're looking at all of the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: technicians who were involved in collecting this. They want all
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of that information. They want to know everybody's background. They
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: want to know everybody's skill set. And all of that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: is in hopes of destroying the credibility of the experts
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: that the prosecution plans to bring up onto the stand.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to give testimony against Brian Kohlberger, and also to poke
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: holes in the credibility of the experts that are giving
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that expert testimony. And of course, the million-dollar question is,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: will he be successful? My opinion, he won't be. Judge
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Judge is going to take a look at all of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: this information, all of this DNA work that was done,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and then the defense, they're going to get whatever is
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: coming their way, not one single bit of information more.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: That's why those statutes are in place. During the discovery phase,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: only certain evidence has to be turned over, and all
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: of that is strictly governed by the statutes. So if
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: there is something under those statutes that has to be
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: turned over to the defense, then my guess is it's
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: going to get turned over. But is it going to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: help Brian Kohlberger? I do not think it will. I
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: think the evidence is so strong against him that it
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: would take literally an act of God to get this
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: DNA thrown out. Now, of course, the caveat is this.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Was there an issue with the chain of custody? Was
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: there an issue with somebody handling this DNA? That's possible.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not privy to the work product.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: But that's exactly what Brian Kohlberger's lawyers are looking to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: get a peek at. They want that work product. They
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: want to know how this all went down from the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: bottom to the top. And to do that, they have
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to have all of the information that was collected by
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the prosecution. So, This is going to be a very
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: pivotal decision being made by Judge Judge. So today we
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: have a short article from News Nation. But before we
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: dive into that article, let's read the order itself. That
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: way we know exactly what's going on. Case number CR 29-22-2805.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Order setting deadline for production of IGG information for in-camera review.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: State of Idaho Plaintiff vs. Brian C. Koberger, the Defendant.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Based on the order addressing IgG DNA and order for
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in-camera review filed on October 25th of 2023 and the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: status conference conducted on November 2nd, 2023, the court orders
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: the following. The state shall provide to the court no
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: later than December 1st, 2023, all IgG material and Pertaining
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: to this case, that is in the possession of the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: FBI and the private laboratory the state contracted with, unless
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the state demonstrates good cause for an extension of time
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: to turn over the requested material. Dated this 8th day
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: of November 2023, and it was signed by Judge Judge.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: So that order is pretty straightforward, right? Turn over your
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: work product by December 1st. Well, today is December 1st,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: so the prosecution... has to have all of this stuff
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: turned over. And I'm very, very interested to see what
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Judge Judge is going to say after he gets a look.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: All right, now over to that News Nation article. Headline,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: could Koberger defense get DNA tossed? This article was authored
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: by Liz Jasson. I guess he could get it tossed,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: but Willie, that's the real question. And I certainly have
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: my doubts. I don't think that there's any basis to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: have it tossed. Unless, of course, like I said a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: second ago, There's something going on that we're not privy to,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: which is always possible. I mean, take a look at
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: all the times we've seen prosecutors flub cases, prosecutors screw
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: things up. So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Do I think it's likely? I do not. I think
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that Bill Thompson and the team up there in Idaho,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: they've done a pretty good job so far. They've kept
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: everything real close to their vest. They haven't let any
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: leaks really come out of the office or anything like that.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: And they've done a relatively good job when we're talking
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: about going step by step and trying to hammer home
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: this conviction. And considering the meticulous nature of the rest
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: of their investigation, I highly doubt that they're going to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: cut corners here and start screwing around. A critical DNA
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: deadline in the case against Brian Koberger, who is accused
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: of killing four University of Idaho students, was set to
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: December 1st. However, a gag order remains in place until
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the trial. That gag order is not going anywhere. As
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: much as we all want it to go away, as
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: much as we all want complete and utter transparency, it's
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: just not going to happen. Not in this case or
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: any other it would seem these days. The judge in
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the case ordered prosecutors to turn over every piece of
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: DNA evidence, saying he preferred to review all of the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: evidence at one time, so he didn't want to piecemeal it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: He wanted the totality of the evidence, so he had
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it all right there in front of him. And can
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you blame him? I'd want it all in front of me, too.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: That way you could have your clerk set things up,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and you could look at it and really get an
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: idea of the totality of the work product. And then
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: from there, obviously, he can make a decision on if
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: everything was done on the up and up. An expert
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: in DNA analysis will probably be there going over every
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: bit of this to walk them through every piece of
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: this evidence. Forensic analyst Joseph Scott Morgan told Banfield, they,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the defense, are going to look at this with an
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: incredibly intense light shining on it. Well, yeah, of course. Look,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: this is the linchpin. This is it right here, folks.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: If they could get this DNA evidence thrown out, then
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger would have a legitimate chance at fighting this case.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: But with the presence of that DNA and that DNA
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: being tied directly to Brian Kohlberger, it's very difficult for
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: him to try and deny any of this. It's very
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: difficult for him to say, look, this isn't me. I
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: wasn't there. That's not my DNA. Well, how did it
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: get there, dum-dum? And I know people want to say, well,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: he might have been at the house previously. Well, that's cool, maybe.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not denying it. Maybe he was. But that still
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: doesn't explain how that sheath got where it was. and
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: it doesn't explain how his DNA was on that sheath.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Koberger is facing charges in the deaths of the four
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: University of Idaho College students, Madison Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Zanna Kernodle,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and Ethan Chapin. The four students were found dead in
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: an off-campus house in a stabbing that shocked the small
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: town of Moscow, Idaho. Shocked the whole ass world, not
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: just the small town of Idaho. I've had people email
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: me from all over the world talking about this case.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: So yeah, this is one of those ones that really
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: grabbed everybody's attention. And it's because we could all relate.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Whether we have kids this age, or we're thinking back
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to when we were in college or whatever, it's one
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: of those stories that resonates. And when you hear about
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: four college kids getting murdered in their home, there's no
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: doubt that it's going to be a firestorm of media coverage.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: It took more than a month for investigators to arrest Kohlberger,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: a graduate student in criminology at Washington State University. located
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: just a few miles from Moscow. Investigators identified Koberger using
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: genetic genealogy, a process that takes DNA evidence and compares
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: it to genetic information from family members that may be
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: found on genealogy sites like Ancestry.com or 23andMe. Investigators used
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: DNA to identify possible family connections which, combined with other evidence,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: like the white Hyundai Elantra seen near the scene, can
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: help narrow down a suspect. And there's no doubt that
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: they used all of it. You had the Hyundai Elantra.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: You had the phone pings. You had Brian Kohlberger allegedly
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: showing up there, what, 12 times? And then, of course,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: let's not forget all of the rumors we've heard about
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: him lurking around campus, about him being at the Mad Greek.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: You know, none of that stuff's been confirmed or denied
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: by the investigators. And that's because of the gag order.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: So we're not going to know one way or the
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: other if any of that had legs. My guess is
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: it did. I've said from the jump that I think
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: that was the nexus. I think that the Mad Greek
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: was where Brian Koberger first saw Maddie. And then from there,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: his disgusting obsession began to blossom. And then we saw
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the fruits of it when he committed, allegedly, this horrible
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: act on November 13th. But when you add up all
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the evidence, the totality of it, with that DNA, I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: really don't know how Koberger's team is going to challenge it. Now,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: without the DNA, we have a different conversation. But unfortunately
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: for Koberger, I don't think that is going to be
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: his reality. I think his reality is going to be
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that that knife sheath is going to be introduced as
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: evidence against him. Koberger was arrested at his family's home
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania before being brought back to Idaho, where he
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: has remained in jail. He is facing four charges of
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: first-degree murder and one charge of burglary. If convicted, he
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: could face the death penalty. Not could, will. The question is,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: will he be convicted? A lot of that's going to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: hinge on this decision that is in front of Judge
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Judge right now. And as soon as Judge Judge makes
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: his decision and an order hits the docket, we'll definitely
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: get it added to the catalog. Because this is a
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: huge moment. And there sure is a whole lot riding
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: on what Judge Judge has to say. All right, everybody,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this one. All of
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: in the description box.