Bryan Kohberger has made a shocking demand to restrict what the families of the four slain University of Idaho students can wear to his capital murder trial.
Among a trove of new court documents released Wednesday, the accused mass killer’s defense has asked the judge to ban any clothing featuring the photos of victims Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
The defense also wants to ban any clothing referring to ‘shooting Mr. Kohberger’ or about the firing squad.
‘Mr. Kohberger respectfully requests that the Court’s guidance outline proper Courtroom decorum which discourages spectators from wearing T-shirts (e.g. T-shirts with a picture of the victim on them and the words “In Memory of” or T-shirts about shooting Mr. Kohberger or about the passage of Idaho’s firing squad legislation), buttons or other apparel with words, photos or artwork that can be observed by the jurors since such conduct poses a coercive threat to the jury’s ability to remain impartial,’ the defense filing states.
‘In court proceedings in Latah County a family member of victim K.G. wore a t-shirt to court related to the passage of Idaho’s firing squad legislation.’
During a court hearing in August 2023, one of Goncalves’ family members was seen sporting a shirt that read: ‘Justice for Kaylee Idaho House Bill 186 Shots Fired.’
Kohberger’s defense attorneys argue this ‘must not be allowed in any future courtroom proceedings’ because ‘trials must be free from a coercive or intimidating atmosphere.’
This marks only the latest bizarre demand from the defense after they asked the judge to ban the terms ‘murder’, ‘bushy eyebrows’ and ‘psychopath’ from the trial.
Bryan Kohberger has made an outrageous demand to restrict what the families of the four slain University of Idaho students can wear to his capital murder trial
Kaylee Goncalves family arrive for a court hearing in 2023. A family member previously wore a shirt in support of the firing squad
In the new filing, Kohberger also asks the judge to define who is classed as the victims’ immediate family members – and so who can be present in the courtroom for the duration of the trial even if called to testify as a witness.
Likewise, he also asks that his own family – his mother, father and two sisters – be permitted to attend the trial in support of him.
The Kohberger family has been silent about the case for the past two years. The only public comments ever made came in a statement released in the days after his arrest where they said they ‘care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children’, that they were cooperating fully with the investigation and that ‘as a family we will love and support our son and brother.’
Goncalves’ family members have been vocal about their support for the death penalty – and her father has called for the man going on trial for his daughter’s murder to face the firing squad if convicted.
Firing squad became an alternative method of execution in Idaho last year, amid a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
But it is not the primary execution method and so no inmate has been put to death since it was introduced.
Republican state lawmaker Bruce Skaug has since put forward a bill to change that and make firing squad the principal method of execution in death row cases – and Goncalves’ father Steve Goncalves said he has reached out to Skaug to help get it over the line.
When asked if he had been following the news about his daughter’s accused killer possibly facing the firing squad, he told NewsNation in February: ‘I don’t follow it. I help make it.
From left: Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke
Pictured: the firing squad chair in the execution chamber at the Utah State Prison. Firing squad became an alternative method of execution in Idaho last year
‘I’m talking to some of these individuals in the state of Idaho. We’re definitely being out there.’
‘I’ll be that person to stand in front of the camera and drum up some support,’ he said.
He added: ‘There’s no reason to have capital punishment if this isn’t the case for it.’
Kohberger’s attorneys are fighting to get the death penalty off the table in the case.
A previous argument that the methods of execution available to inmates in Idaho – firing squad and lethal injection – as well as forcing inmates to wait for years on death row would amount to a cruel and unusual punishment and be unconstitutional was dismissed by Judge Steven Hippler in November.
Now, the defense is claiming that Kohberger’s diagnosis for autism means that he should not face capital punishment.
In the motion ‘to Strike the Death Penalty Re: Autism Spectrum Disorder,’ Kohberger’s defense says he has an autism diagnosis which ‘exposes him to the unacceptable risk’ that a jury will convict him of murder and sentence him to death.
Due to his autism, Kohberger has ‘little insight into his own behaviors and emotions,’ often rocks his body back and forth when listening, has ‘limited’ facial expressions and ‘his expressions are sometimes incongruent with what is happening around him,’ the defense states.
Bryan Kohberger smirks and offers a ‘thumbs up’ to the camera in a selfie six hours after the murders
‘A juror seeing the defendant engage in any one of these behaviors, while sitting at counsel table during a murder trial, would perceive the defendant as strange, out-of-control, and even disrespectful of such a solemn proceeding,’ the defense writes.
The judge is yet to rule on this motion.
Kohberger’s attempt to limit the courtroom attire of the victims’ families comes after he asked the judge to ban the two-word phrase ‘bushy eyebrows’ from his trial.
‘Bushy eyebrows’ was the defining characteristic that the slain victims’ surviving roommate Dylan Mortensen recalled about the masked intruder she saw leaving the student house moments after the brutal murders are believed to have taken place.
According to Kohberger’s defense, ‘the description provided by D.M. is unreliable and should be excluded’ from the courtroom.
In the state’s response, released Wednesday, prosecutors clapped back, arguing that Mortensen’s description was consistent through all of her interviews with law enforcement and revealing a never-before-seen selfie of Kohberger.
The creepy photo shows Kohberger in a white shirt buttoned up to the collar and headphones as he stands in front of a shower.
He gives a chilling half smile and thumbs up to the camera.
The photo, prosecutors say, was taken at 10.30am on November 13 2022 – around six hours after he allegedly broke into the student home and slaughtered the four victims.
Prosecutors want to present the photo at trial and let jurors decide if they believe he could be described as having ‘bushy eyebrows’ at the time of the murders.
Mortensen and a fifth roommate Bethany Funke lived with Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle in the three-story house at 1122 King Road and survived the attack.
Mortensen, whose bedroom was on the second floor, came face-to-face with a masked man in the immediate aftermath of the murders, according to court documents.
She told investigators that she had been woken by noises in the home at around 4am that morning and had heard a voice say ‘there’s someone here.’
She also heard what sounded like whimpering coming from Kernodle’s room and a man’s voice – that she was sure was not Chapin – saying: ‘It’s ok, I’m going to help you.’
Mortensen told investigators she had opened her door and peeked outside three times.
The third time, she said she saw a man with bushy eyebrows and dressed in black walk past her door and head towards the sliding back doors of the home.
Survivors Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke exchanged frantic text messages after Mortensen saw a masked man inside their home
The student home where the murders took place. Mortensen came face-to-face with a masked intruder moments after the murders are believed to have taken place
After seeing the intruder, Mortensen and Funke exchanged a series of frantic texts and calls, court documents show.
Cell phone records, released last week, show that the two students made a string of desperate calls and text to their other roommates – but got no response.
Mortensen ended up leaving her bedroom on the second floor and going down to Funke’s room on the first floor.
Around eight hours later, just before midday, a harrowing 911 call was placed from Funke’s phone.
Officers arrived on the scene to find the four victims brutally stabbed to death inside the home.
Kohberger, who was a PhD student just over the border at Washington State University at the time, was arrested around six weeks later at his parent’s home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania.
Investigators honed in on the suspect after finding a brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath next to Mogen’s lifeless body.
Touch DNA found on the sheath was traced to Kohberger using Investigative Genetic Geneaology (IGG).
In one bedroom on the second floor lay the bodies of young couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin (left)
One floor above lay two more victims – best friends Madison Mogen (left) and Kaylee Goncalves (right) – together in the same bed
The quadruple homicide suspect’s attorneys have tried – unsuccessfully – to have the DNA evidence tossed from his trial by undermining the IGG method.
The knife itself has never been found.
However, according to a new prosecution filing, Kohberger bought a Ka-Bar knife and sheath from Amazon in March 2022.
The defense has pointed to other DNA evidence also found at the scene.
A bombshell court filing recently revealed that DNA evidence from three unknown individuals was found under Mogen’s left fingernails.
Testing showed a three-person mixture and, when compared to Kohberger, this came back inconclusive – meaning he could neither be confirmed or eliminated as the source.
Blood from two, unidentified men were found at the crime scene – one on a handrail between the first and second floor of the three-storey home and one on a glove found outside.
Kohberger’s attorneys have zeroed in on the fact that investigators have not determined who the two mystery men are
University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger (seen in court in 2023) is now claiming his autism diagnosis means the death penalty should be taken off the table
To date, the defense has only offered up a vague alibi for the night of the murders, claiming that he was driving around alone late at night on November 12 and into the morning of November 13.
No witnesses could corroborate where he was, his attorney Anne Taylor admitted in a court filing.
At his arraignment, Kohberger stayed silent, leading the judge to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Kohberger is next due in court in April.
