Bryan Kohberger's lawyers could use blood spatter evidence to argue that he didn't murder Idaho students
MOSCOW, IDAHO: A former FBI agent predicts blood spatter analysis will likely be used in the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger. Jennifer Coffindaffer told Newsweek on Monday, January 23, that Bryan's defense will use blood spatter as evidence in the trial, which is scheduled to begin in June. According to Coffindaffer, Kohberger's defense team could use the blood spatter analysis to claim that a perpetrator "of a different stature" was responsible for the atrocities. Coffindaffer claims that the blood trace analysis will "tell a story," and both the defense and prosecution will call witnesses who are specialists in the field.
"The prosecution is going to lay that story out in large part, based on not only spatter but also blood location, footprints, other blood," Coffindaffer told Newsweek."That blood is going to tell the story and that's going to be one of their key tools to be able to recreate a crime scene, blood evidence," she further added. "One of the things they look at are voids and so sometimes it's not where the blood spatter hits but where it doesn't hit," Coffindaffer said. "Because that gives a reference as to how the crime was committed, what direction the perpetrator was facing, was the perpetrator on the victim, did they hit an artery," she further added.
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Coffindaffer tweeted on Monday, "#bryanchristopherkohberger's defense team also has experts; look for blood spatter analysis to play a role in #idahohomicides."
The #alexmurdough trial will involve experts. Alex's shirt with blood spatter is in question. #bryanchristopherkohberger's defense team also has experts; look for blood spatter analysis to play a role in the #idahohomicides.#moscowpd#IdahoStabbingshttps://t.co/YOywtYqPYu
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) January 23, 2023
Coffindaffer said that the interpretation of the bloodstain pattern analysis evidence will differ between the prosecution and defense teams. Speaking on the cellular tower pings and surveillance material that were included in the probable cause statement, Coffindaffer and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said last week that Kohberger's trial will probably be a "battle of the experts" as per Newsweek.
The president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Rahmani also spoke about how Kohberger's defense can take advantage of the timing disparities mentioned in the affidavit. "If there is any argument to be made that the cell site service is inaccurate, that's going to be good for the defense," Rahmani told at the time."I'm sure they're going to have an expert that's not necessarily junk science but it's far from as accurate as the state presents it to be."
Kohberger, a Ph.D. candidate in criminology at Washington State University, was detained last month and is currently charged with four charges of first-degree murder and one act of criminal burglary. His arrest came more than a month after Moscow, Idaho police started looking into the deadly stabbings of four college students: Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.