Latah County prosecutors in Idaho say Bryan Kohberer's alibi is too vague and asked a judge to block a defense expert from testifying in support of "scant information."
Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger's "alibi" that he was driving around looking at "the moon and stars," is too vague, according to prosecutors.
Now, they are asking the judge to deny any further requests from his defense to call witnesses other than the defendant himself in an attempt to prove he wasn't at the King Road home at the time of the stabbings that killed University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, their housemate Xana Kernodle, 20, and her visiting boyfriend Ethan Chapin, also 20.
"With the exception of the reference to Wawawai Park (which is new), the defendant is offering nothing new to his initial ‘alibi’ that he was simply driving around during the morning hours of November 13, 2022," Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson wrote in a court filing.
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"As the State noted during the August 2023 hearing, the State is aware that the defendant was driving around rural areas of Whitman County, Washington, and Latah County, Idaho, during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. In fact, the defendant's travels during that time are described in the original Probable Cause Affidavit supporting the Criminal Complaint in this case."
Read the prosecution's filing:
The prosecution's concerns may not be enough to convince the judge, however, according to Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented the "cult mom" killer Lori Vallow.
"It is not up to the State to determine what is or is not relevant to the defense," she told Fox News Digital. "Try as they may to control the narrative."
She noted that Kohberger has a constitutional right to mount a defense and called the latest filing "the prosecution’s equivalent of a temper tantrum."
More than a year after the murders, Kohberger's lawyers filed an alibi with the court claiming he was simply driving around.
"Mr. Kohberger was out driving in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022; as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars," his lawyers wrote. "He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho, including Wawawai Park."
Other experts agree with Thompson's claim that the alibi is a little lacking.
"The state’s response is short, sweet and to the point: What has been offered by the defendant as an ‘alibi’ is nothing of the sort," said David Gelman, a former prosecutor and now a New Jersey-based defense attorney.
A denial of the defendant's presence at the crime scene isn't enough to establish he was somewhere else, Gelman argued.
"He has offered no specifics as to his location at the time in question, nor has he offered the names of those witnesses upon whom he will rely on to establish the defense," he said. "That is not an alibi as contemplated by the law. The trial court should not permit the defense to pursue an alibi defense, based on the scant information provided."
Defense lawyers had planned to call an expert on cellphone data to support their alibi claim. Prosecutors are arguing that since the alibi is so vague, that shouldn't be allowed.
It's the latest in a legal tug-of-war between prosecutors and Kohberger's team.
Last month, Judge allowed the defense to resume its survey of potential jurors after a temporary order to halt activities. Alarmed county residents had been so bothered by the survey that they called police, according to court filings. But Judge ultimately found that the survey could continue as part of Kohberger's attempt to prove jury bias and argue for a change of venue.
Prosecutors allege that Kohberger is the masked man who entered a house just steps from the University of Idaho campus around 4 a.m. Nov. 13, 2022.
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The following morning, police arrived to find four undergrad students dead in the house.
Kohberger, who was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at nearby Washington State University, faces four charges of first-degree murder and a felony burglary count.
According to a probable cause affidavit connected to his arrest warrant, police allegedly found his DNA on a knife sheath under Mogen's body.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
