Bryan Kohberger defense asks about evidence during hearing

( NewsNation ) — Bryan Kohberger, who stands accused of killing four students at the University of Idaho, was in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.

Kohberger faces four murder charges in connection with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in their off-campus home in Moscow. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty if Kohberger’s convicted .

Investigators connected Kohberger to the case using a form of DNA sampling called investigative genetic genealogy.

At the start of Thursday’s hearing, one witness, Moscow Police Det. Brett Payne, said thousands of hours of surveillance video were collected as part of the investigation into Kohberger. Defense Attorney Anne Taylor asked him how to find certain videos.

Payne said police have thousands of hours of video from 79 businesses and residences pertaining to the Kohberger investigation. The defense, however, questioned whether they were given all the footage, which has been a recurring theme in the pre-trial hearings.

Defense attorneys for Kohberger have accused prosecutors of not turning over all of the evidence they had during their discovery process, which the state denied.

Besides the surveillance video, defense attorneys for Kohberger also appeared to try and figure out if they were missing any cell phone data evidence.

Another witness brought by the defense, Sy Ray, said about 2-3% of the cell phone data in the case is missing. Ray is the founder of ZetX Corporation, which specializes in cellular geo-location mapping, analysis and training.

When questioned about this by the defense, Ray said, “Some of the most significant locations in the case are missing data.”

Defense attorneys maintained that they are not getting evidence and exhibits in an organized way and that instead, “Discovery is being given to us like we are living in a snow globe.”

At another hearing last Thursday, police forensic detective Lawerence Mowry said he discovered cell phone files.

Both sides say cell phone pings will make their cases. For the defense, Kohberger’s cellphone data is closely linked to his alibi. The accused’s lawyers say he was out driving the morning the students were killed, “as he often did to hike and run and/or see the moon and stars .”

“He drove throughout the area south of Pullman, Washington, west of Moscow, Idaho, including Wawawai Park,” defense attorneys said, maintaining Kohberger wasn’t near the house when the killings happened.

Investigators, though, say they have cell phone pings putting Kohberger near the scene of the crime. DNA evidence also connects Kohberger to a knife sheath that was found there, police said.

An official trial date has not yet been set.

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