Bryan Kohberger could be unfairly convicted of murder due to his physical appearance and personality traits, his defense lawyer argues in a new court filing.
“[H]e does not show emotion on his face, he has a flat affect, he sits very still and holds his hands in the same position, he has a piercing stare, he does not show expected reactions, facial expressions do not reflect what he is feeling, he is stiff in body posture, he has prosody in speech, uses repetitive phrases and large words, and has developmental dexterity problems,” Anne Taylor writes in a response submitted this week and obtained.
Taylor then claims that those behaviors are symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and asks the court that she be permitted to introduce two witnesses at trial who can testify about ASD and how it manifests in some people.
“While Mr. Kohberger’s presentation is highly consistent with ASD, without explanation others may misinterpret and misidentify Mr. Kohberger’s behaviors and cast them in a more sinister light,” Taylor writes in her response.
She also argues that Kohberger suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, and claims that explains his actions on the night of his arrest.
“[T]he State has continued to claim that Mr. Kohberger was wearing gloves on the night of his arrest and placing trash in baggies. The State asserts that this demonstrates that he had consciousness of guilt and was trying either to hide his DNA or engage in the cleaning of his car,” Taylor writes, “This is highly prejudicial and misleading. Mr. Kohberger frequently wears gloves to avoid germs on surfaces.”
This response comes after the state’s prosecutor William Thompson objected to Taylor’s request for two additional expert witnesses and argues that the addition of these individuals falls well outside the bounds of permissible medical experts in the case.
The matter is now in the judge’s hands.
Kohberger is accused of murdering Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four were found stabbed to death inside the Moscow, Idaho home that Mogen, Goncalves and Kernodle shared with two other individuals.
Kohberger’s trial is now set for August, almost three years after the four students were brutally stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
And with just a few months left until the trial, lawyers for both sides have been flooding the court with new motions and filings.
The two lead lawyers submitted 39 court filings in just the first three days of this week.
