BOISE, Idaho – A new ruling in the University of Idaho student murder case shows shows the new judge will likely not be patient with court filings that are cumbersome or incomplete.
Judge Steven Hippler filed an order Friday, in response to a defense motion for a special hearing in the Bryan Kohberger case.
Kohberger is accused of killing four U of I students in 2022.
His attorneys filed a motion asking for a Franks hearing, which is a hearing to determine if a law enforcement officer provided false information in order to obtain a search warrant.
The Kohberger defense team contends that the genetic genealogy work done to match Kohberger’s DNA with DNA found on a knife sheath at the scene was unconstitutional.
In response to the request for the hearing, Hippler criticized the defense motion.
He said attached to the motion were 38 exhibits, comprising more than 2000 pages.
“Unfortunately, [the] memorandum largely fails to identify with particuarlity the relevant portions of the exhibits, instead referring simply to the exhibit number without identifying the precise pages at issue,” Hippler wrote.
He said that leaves him with the “unenviable task of sifting through pages and pages of largely irrelevant documents.”
Hippler said if Kohberger wants the motion to be considered, the defense needs to revise the memorandum, identifying the relevant portions by page number.
Anything not related to the motion, Hippler said, needs to be removed.
The defense has until Tuesday to submit the filings if they want the motion for the Franks hearing to be considered.
Hippler took over the case when it was determined the trial should be moved to Ada County from Latah County.
The trial is scheduled to begin in August 2025.
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