By: Jeremy Downing – Assistant News Director , Karen Lehr
LATAH COUNTY, Idaho (Scripps News Boise) — A judge has ruled the FBI must turn over DNA records for review in the trial against Bryan Kohberger, the defendant accused in the University of Idaho quadruple murder case.
Bryan Kohberger, second from left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted out of the courtroom as two of his attorneys, Anne Taylor, second from right, and Jay Logsdon, right, confer following a hearing in Latah County District Court, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
At a remote hearing held Thursday, Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District ruled the documents must be turned over by December 1. Judge will then review those records and decide what information can be kept from the defense.
MORE: Bryan Kohberger’s Attorneys Challenge DNA Evidence
Prosecutors had previously shared that they used investigative genetic genealogy to lead them to their suspect and make an arrest in the case. They said they linked DNA from the knife sheath found at the crime scene to DNA found in the family’s trash in Pennsylvania.
Once the DNA recovered from the sheath was tested against Kohberger’s cheek swab following his arrest, the profile findings were said to be “at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be seen if Defendant is the source than if an unrelated individual randomly selected from the population is the source,” according to information in the motion for protective order filed June 16. In other words, it was a DNA match.
RELATED: FBI returns to Idaho Murders house to construct exhibits for trial
Bryan Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the November 13, 2022 deaths of four students near the University of Idaho.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Boise, an E.W. Scripps Company.
