Judge denies Kohberger motions to quash evidence

Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler denied all of Bryan Kohberger’s motions to suppress evidence in the 2022 Moscow quadruple murder case.

Nearly four weeks after hearing verbal arguments from the defense, Hippler denied their motions to suppress everything from genetic information, arrest warrants and Kohberger’s online accounts.

Hippler also denied Kohberger’s request for a Franks Hearing, which is held if there is suspicion that police intentionally or recklessly omitted evidence.

The defense argued Kohberger’s constitutional rights were violated when police did not secure a warrant to investigate his DNA. The police used a genealogy database to search for a genetic match, which the defense claimed violated Kohberger’s privacy. Kohberger’s DNA was allegedly found on a knife sheath left at the crime scene.

Hippler ruled there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for DNA left at a crime scene. Additionally, Kohberger’s DNA was not analyzed for anything other than identifying purposes. Kohberger’s DNA was compared to his relatives’ genetic information, which Hippler stated was voluntarily given to this database. Therefore, their privacy was not violated, he said.

Hippler also decided law enforcement legally found DNA from a trash bin at Kohberger’s parent’s home in Pennsylvania, where he later was arrested.

Kohberger’s arrest also came into question, as the defense argued his rights were violated when police quickly knocked on the door and announced their presence before they entered his parents’ home. His attorneys claimed there was a Miranda violation when they arrested him.

Hippler said police were right to perform an abbreviated “knock-and-announce” because they had reason to believe Kohberger was destroying evidence and possibly dangerous. Police allegedly observed Kohberger enter his parents’ garage shortly after 1 a.m. and then later enter the kitchen wearing rubber gloves and handling a plastic baggie. Police suspected he was throwing away evidence from his vehicle.

Police also believed Kohberger was in possession of a gun and potentially violent, which justified the way they entered his home, Hippler argued.

Hippler determined police did not illegally interrogate Kohberger before he was Mirandized, even though Kohberger engaged in small talk with the officers at the time of his arrest.

The defense argued that searches of Kohberger’s Apple and Amazon accounts were illegal because they violated his privacy rights. However, Hippler said Apple and Amazon customers are notified that their information may be shared with a third-party, so police were within their rights to investigate the accounts.

Furthermore, Hippler disagreed with the defense’s arguments that the warrants to search these and other online accounts were too broad to be legal.

The defense claimed that when police asked Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall to sign a search warrant, they recklessly omitted information from interviews with the surviving roommate of the King Road house. For example, Kohberger attorney Anne Taylor said the roommate relayed different information to different detectives who interviewed her and that she had issues with her memory.

However, Hippler said there was enough consistent information in the roommates’ interviews, including the physical description of the defendant.

He said the defense could not prove that any omissions by the police were intentional, reckless or exculpatory. Hippler felt the same way about the police’s investigation of Kohberger’s vehicle and cellphone data.

That is why Hippler denied Kohberger’s request to have a Franks hearing.

Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the November 2022 stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. He could face the death penalty if convicted. His trial is scheduled to start in August.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.