Five Legal Time Bombs in the Kohberger Case That Could Explode at Trial
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3 • 791 Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Former prosecutor and defense attorney Eric Faddis joins us for a deep dive into the legal chess match unfolding in the Bryan Kohberger case. As Kohberger faces capital murder charges for the killings of four University of Idaho students, his defense team has filed a motion to delay the trial, citing constitutional violations and incomplete forensic and psychological investigations. But as Faddis explains, there’s much more going on beneath the surface.
This isn’t just about trial prep—it’s about preserving appellate leverage. The motion to continue includes references to landmark Supreme Court cases like Wiggins v. Smith and Powell v. Alabama, invoking the concept of “heightened reliability” required in death penalty proceedings. Kohberger’s attorneys argue they need more time to complete a full “life history” mitigation investigation—one that includes trauma, mental health evaluations, and multi-generational background records. According to Faddis, these steps are standard in capital cases, but failing to do them thoroughly could open the door to a future reversal on appeal.
We also unpack how the defense is weaponizing media coverage, including the recent Dateline NBC special and James Patterson’s upcoming book, to argue that Kohberger cannot receive a fair trial under current conditions. Faddis provides expert commentary on whether this pretrial publicity genuinely threatens the jury pool—or if it’s a calculated move to frame a potential mistrial argument before trial even begins.
Is this defense strategy brilliant or overplayed? What forensic evidence still hasn’t been fully vetted? And how is this shaping up to be one of the most complicated capital trials in recent memory? Faddis brings clarity to a case that’s anything but clear.
#BryanKohberger #EricFaddis #KohbergerTrial #TrueCrimeAnalysis #DeathPenaltyDefense #ForensicLaw #IdahoMurders #KohbergerEvidence #CapitalTrial #CriminalJusticeSystem
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Hidden Killers podcast with Tony Bruske and continuing coverage of the case against Brian Koberger. |
| 0:08.5 | Oh, there's big things going on in the trial of Brian Koberger. |
| 0:13.8 | What does it all mean for the future of the case? |
| 0:16.7 | Well, we have a legal mind here that can help us break this all down. |
| 0:22.4 | Eric Fattis, defense attorney, former prosecutor. |
| 0:25.4 | Basically, in a nutshell, a 27-page nutshell, once it's all broken down, they're asking for |
| 0:31.8 | stay in the trial. |
| 0:32.8 | They're wanting more time to go through the evidence. |
| 0:36.1 | They say they haven't figured out their expert witnesses yet. |
| 0:38.8 | They haven't figured out this. They haven't figured out that. The whole thing is out there. |
| 0:44.4 | From your experience here, how can we tell the difference between a legitimate need for more time? |
| 0:51.9 | Again, it is a death penalty case, so you really got to cross the T's and doubt the |
| 0:56.1 | eyes. |
| 0:56.5 | So I'm certainly giving that leverage here to them. |
| 1:00.4 | And just basically a strategic delay that's just to basically about running the clock |
| 1:04.9 | and maybe something will happen, maybe more things will leak, and then more things will |
| 1:08.1 | have to get thrown out. |
| 1:08.9 | I mean, what do you think is going on here in this case? |
| 1:13.2 | Without question, delay is a friend of the defense. And that includes delays that are legitimate and delays that might be more strategic and however you want to characterize it. And so, you know, |
| 1:30.8 | certainly that they have some arguments right for the delay. Like you said, the complexity of the |
| 1:34.7 | case, it's a quadruple homicide, it's got national intention, death penalty case, |
| 1:39.5 | there's all sorts of experts and witnesses and investigations, everything else. That does |
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