Judge Dismisses Alternative Suspects List Presented by Bryan Kohberger’s Defense Team

() The judge in the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, dismissed the defense’s list of alternate suspects and said it would “do nothing more than waste the precious time of the jury and the Court in what is already a scheduled three-month trial.”

Judge Steven Hippler issued the ruling Thursday, dismissing the defense’s list of four alternate suspects, whose names were redacted in the filing.

The judge’s order states that the evidence put forth by the defense was “entirely irrelevant,” and “nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding.

The judge said there was no “compelling evidence” that any of the alternate suspects had the motivation to kill the students, and that they cooperated with law enforcement. 

What we learned about Bryan Kohberger’s alternate suspects list

“Three of the individuals were each socially connected to one or more of the victims, interacted with one or more of the victims at social events in the hours prior to the homicide, lived within walking distance of the crime scene and were familiar with the layout of the victims’ home from prior social events,” Hippler wrote.

The fourth individual had a “passing connection” to one of the victims five weeks before the killings, which was caught on a store’s surveillance camera.  The person allegedly followed one of the victims out of a store in an attempt to talk with her before turning away without speaking to her.

The individual cooperated with law enforcement and provided a DNA sample, and there was no evidence connecting him to the crime scene, Hippler wrote. 

“While perhaps this evidence could suggest an opportunity to commit the crime which, no doubt, is an opportunity shared by dozens of others in the victims’ social circles there is no compelling evidence that any of them had motive to kill the victims much less physically harm them or a means to do so,” Hippler wrote. 

The judge explained that adding these four individuals as alternate suspects “would lead the jury astray, turning its focus away from whether Defendant the only person whose actions are on trial committed the charged crimes. It also presents a threat of unfair prejudice, as it would invite the jury to blame unrepresented persons for heinous crime when there is not a scintilla of competent evidence connecting them to the crime.”

Kohberger faces murder charges for the deaths of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin, who were killed at an off-campus house near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022. He has pleaded not guilty. 

The judge’s order came the same day he denied Kohberger’s defense team’s motion to delay the start of the trial.

The trial is scheduled to begin in August, with opening arguments expected on Aug. 18.