By: Christine Coates , Karen Lehr
LATAH COUNTY, Idaho (Scripps News Boise) — Bryan Kohberger’s defense team was required to submit an alibi for the defendant for the night that four students at the University of Idaho were murdered. That deadline was Monday, but court documents show Kohberger has chosen to remain silent.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a motion hearing regarding a gag order, Friday, June 9, 2023, in Latah County District Court in Moscow, Idaho. A judge overseeing the case against Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students last fall, is set to hear arguments over a gag order that largely bars attorneys and other parties in the case from speaking with news reporters. (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool)
“Mr. Kohberger notes that Idaho Code §19-519(4) preserves his Constitutional right to silence as well as to testify on his own behalf,” the document filed by his public defender Anne Taylor states. “Mr. Kohberger stands firm on his Constitutional right as well as the statutory recognition of that right.”
Although he’s chosen not to explain his whereabouts at the time of the murders, his attorney says, “It is anticipated this evidence may be offered by way of cross-examination of witnesses produced by the State as well as calling expert witnesses.”
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“A defendant’s denial of the charges against him does not constitute an alibi, but as soon as he offers evidence that he was at some place other than where the crime of which he is charged was committed, he is raising the alibi defense,” Taylor states in the document. “Mr. Kohberger’s defense team continues investigating and preparing his case. Evidence corroborating Mr. Kohberger being at a location other than the King Road address will be disclosed pursuant to discovery and evidentiary rules as well as statutory requirements.”
Kohberger is facing four first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, and a felony burglary charge from November 2022.
His trial is scheduled to begin on October 2, 2023, as Kohberger is exercising his right to a speedy trial.
This story was originally published on July 25, 2023, by Scripps News Boise, an E.W. Scripps Company.
