Law&Crime Sidebar - Idaho Murders: Top 7 Developments Post-Bryan Kohberger Affidavit Release

Episode Date: January 14, 2023

The Law&Crime Network's Angenette Levy breaks down the top 7 developments made in the Idaho student murders case after suspect Bryan Kohberger's affidavit was released.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. If you plead guilty or found guilty is death and or imprisonment for life. Do you understand? Yes. The arrest of Brian Coburger for the murders of Ford University of Idaho's students came as a shock. We're taking a look at seven things that we've learned since the probable cause affidavit was released. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and welcome to Law and Crimes Sidebar Podcast. It feels like every day we've learned something new, either about Brian Koeberger or the murder case or about the victims since the probable cause affidavit was released.

You'll recall that Brian Koeberger is charged with murdering for University of Idaho students. They Maddie Mogan, Kaylee Gonsalves, Zana Kernodal, and Ethan Chapin. When Coburger was arrested in an early morning raid on his parents' home in Pennsylvania more than two weeks ago, the news was a surprise. He's someone that wasn't on the public's radar, but the affidavit says Moscow police had been aware of him since late November. When he was arrested, many wondered, who will represent him? His family said they couldn't afford to hire a lawyer, and with this possibly being a death penalty case. The public defenders in Laetaw County, Idaho were not qualified to handle it. And Taylor is the chief public defender for the Cordillane area in Idaho about two hours north of Moscow, and she was

appointed to represent Brian Coburger. Ms. Taylor, do you wish to argue bail at this time? Your Honor, I would like to ask the court to consider setting a bond. Mr. Coberger right now is on a no bond hole, but it's a limited request as I don't have enough information. Court records that were recently unsealed showed that Taylor was appointed to represent Coburger within hours of his arrest on December 30th. She immediately filed motions

invoking his right to counsel, saying law enforcement should not speak to him, and she won an order to preserve the crime scene. Police had started cleaning out that King Road house that very day. Next, Kaylee Gonzalez's sister, Olivia, spoke recently just in the last several days for the first time since Brian Koberger was arrested.

Olivia Gonzalez was critically involved in this investigation. She found cell phone records belonging to her sister that helped with the timeline, and she also found that Twitch video of Kaylee and Maddie Mogan at the Grub truck, food truck, in the hours before they were murdered. She spoke to News Nation following Coburger's initial appearance. I think we always presume, you know, in a sense, I don't think it really hit me until the affidavit was released, and I was able to kind of read that and process that, and then you not only have a name and a face, but, you know, the beginnings of a case against him.

The relief that we all felt having a suspect in custody was, it was like, I can't even describe it. Like, the weight of the world was lifted from our shoulders. Olivia Gonzalez said that she will attend all of the future court appearances. The day that Brian Coburger was arrested, Moscow Police, with the assistance of police in Pullman, Washington, executed a search warrant on Coburger's apartment near the campus of Washington State University. As you can imagine, the documents pertaining to that search warrant could reveal a lot of information, including what items were seized by law enforcement. But the warrant and documents related to it are sealed until March 1st of this year, according to an order from the court in Whitman County, Washington. It turns out the warrant was requested the day before Coburger was arrested. So, of course, law enforcement wouldn't have wanted Coburger's name released until after he had been taken into custody.

The order sealing those documents said that making this information public before the arrest could have endangered effective law enforcement possibly caused a premature end to the investigation and endangered public safety. there have been a lot of questions about whether or not Brian Coburger knew any of the four victims in this case. The families are looking at possible connections. We know that they've been going through social media and things like that. The attorney for the Gonzalez family said they've looked for any connections between Kaylee and Coburger. And he said this week that Kaylee did not know Brian Coburger. And any information the family has gathered has been turned over to Moscow police. It's really unknown at this point in time, whether or not any of the other three victims crossed paths with Coburger or knew him in any way. Meanwhile, the attorney for the Gonzalez family, Shannon Gray, offered support for that surviving roommate who's been named as DM in court documents. The affidavit said that she actually heard crying coming from Zana Kernodal's room. The morning of the homicides, she heard somebody who sounded like a man saying, I'm going to help you, it's okay. And she also saw a man she didn't know, walking out of the house through a sliding glass door.

There have been a lot of questions about why she went back into her room and 911 wasn't called for another eight hours. In the affidavit, she said she froze, but Shannon Gray is offering support to her because so many people have questioned what she said and criticized her for not calling 911 immediately. We all have to remember that she is a victim in this case. I don't know if anybody can, everyone's there to second guess. what happened and how she should have or might have could have reacted you know she states in the

i think in the affidavit that she froze in that moment and then went back in her room and you know and ultimately the 911 call wasn't made until later you know eight hours later i believe or something along those lines but who knows i mean people maybe she saw him and maybe she thought he was going out for a smoke on the out on the deck and coming back in who knows what was going through her mind and But I don't think anybody should be putting any blame or anything on her about anything. And the family feels the same way. She is, she's going through a traumatic incident where she had four roommates that were murdered. She was able to garner some information that helped out the affidavit, the identification of the black clothes, of the black mask over his nose, the bushy eyebrows, approximate height, approximate build.

very critical to the investigation. I mean, if they bring in a guy that's 6-6 and doesn't match the description, right, then you have a different, but it seems in line with what the defendant looks like in this case to a certain degree. So, and maybe they find dark clothes and they find a dark mask in some of the locations that they've done. So she's really, it's, I think everyone should be praising her for getting an identification and being able to, give that solid information there and not look about what she might of or could have her done because we have no idea what mental state she was going through at that time. The spring semester started on Wednesday, January 11th, and that means all of the students

went back to class. That included Ethan Chapin's two siblings. Ethan was a triplet, and all three of them attended the University of Idaho, and Ethan Chapin's parents placed a statement out on Facebook. It reads, the support from the University of Idaho and Moscow PD and Idaho State Police has been profound. Maisie and Hunter are rock stars and we couldn't be more proud of them. Their job now is just to be kids. Start where they left off. Keep goals and aspirations in mind. Ethan is who he was because of our family. His foundation was unwavering. He was so loved he didn't know any different. The stories are endless and amazing. He He touched lives. We had no idea existed. Ethan was incredible. Ethan's parents went on to say that they've met with prosecutors and anything that they or Ethan had is now frozen by the defense. That includes two vehicles, any of his belongings, and a set of golf clubs.

We are going to ask the court to set preliminary hearing out into June. We would request the third or fourth week of June and probably four or five days for preliminary hearing. Mr. Coburger understands his right to a timely preliminary hearing, and he's willing to waive the time from this to allow us time to obtain discovery in this case. Ann Taylor is Brian Coburger's public defender, and she requested a preliminary hearing for her client, but asked that it be scheduled almost six months from now. Some attorneys were kind of surprised by that while others were not. This will actually give the defense time to look through evidence that they received from the prosecution. That's called discovery. The investigation, of course, is ongoing, as is processing of evidence, including examining data from his electronic devices.

His white Hyundai Alantra is also being processed for evidence. The amount of evidence turned over to the defense in this case will be voluminous, likely terabytes worth of data. The statement of him being exonerated implicitly meant that he was innocent of the crimes. He used the word exonerated. That's why we put that in the statement. Jason Labar represented Brian Coburger for several days following his arrest in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. He's actually the chief public defender for that county and represented Coburger during the extradition proceedings. I spoke with Labar about the probable cause affidavit and possible defenses he sees. It's a strong circumstantial case, but the evidence when it's viewed individually, you can attack that evidence.

as a defense attorney. If you take the DNA evidence that's recovered from the sheath, for instance, I believe that to potentially be touch DNA, transfer DNA, which would mean that it could remain on that sheath for an indefinite period of time if undisturbed. That's one way of attacking that type of evidence that doesn't put him at the scene of the crime the night up, just that he merely touched that sheath at some point in time. The ID by DM is obviously going to be contested at the time of the preliminary hearing. I don't believe hearsay is admissible in Idaho under the rules. So it would be likely that DM is going to testify at the preliminary hearing when it gets to that point. So cross-examination of her is going to be key in the case. LaBarre told me he will

continue to work with Brian Coburger's family. They are located in Pennsylvania, although he's no longer a member of the defense team. So that's it for the seven developments that we've seen since the release of that probable cause affidavit. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg and Michael Dininger. Bobby Zoki manages our YouTube channel. Kira Bronson handles our social media and Alyssa Fisher is our booking producer. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever else you get your podcasts. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and we will see you next time.

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