Idaho murders: Bryan Kohberger back in court for evidence hearing

Bryan Kohberger is back in court for day two of his evidence hearing. He’s accused of murdering University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle in November 2022.

His attorneys are fighting for nearly all the evidence collected be thrown out. They claim police illegally obtained his DNA through genetic genealogy, which they argue violates his fourth amendment rights. Prosecutors argue there is nothing unconstitutional about using that type of evidence.

The defense also argued evidence was illegally collected from Kohberger’s digital history, which was something focused heavily on when two detectives from the Moscow Police Department took the stand on Friday.

Dig deeper:

"How did the state come into possession of Bryan Kohberger’s phone?" the defense asked. "It was obtained via the warrant in Pennsylvania," Det. Lawrence Mowery, Moscow Police Department responded.

The defense claims some of the warrants were broad and failed to incorporate the affidavit, but the prosecution disagreed.

"Each one of them listed that they were specific to the type of crime, the location and all but one of them had temporal limitations," the prosecution said.

One detective also talked about the moments leading to Kohberger’s arrest. Cpl. Brett Payne is the lead detective for the Moscow Police Department and was in Pennsylvania when Kohberger was arrested. He talked about what he observed while the special response team was preparing to make the arrest.

"They were doing their final preparations going over their approach, team member assignments, a briefing," he said.

What they're saying:

For the family of Kaylee Goncalves who traveled to Boise for this hearing, they appeared on ‘Fox and Friends’ and said all they want is justice. "Her only mistake that night was to go to bed that night and somebody broke in and killed her," Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s dad said.

Judge Steven Hippler said he would issue a ruling when it comes to the motion to suppress at a later time. There were also talks about a Franks hearing related to the investigative genetic genealogy, which would determine whether a law enforcement officer lied or provided false information to get a search warrant.

The judge has not decided if that will happen just yet.

The Source: Information comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Shirah Matsuzawa.

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