(NewsNation) — Court filings from Bryan Kohberger’s defense team hinted at who might take the stand during the University of Idaho killings trial.
While Kohberger’s trial is set for August, his defense team argued against admitting a number of expert witnesses this month, claiming their testimony could be vague and undisclosed.
Judge Steven Hippler denied their motion last Thursday. “The Court finds no basis to exclude or limit the expert testimony at this time,” according to Hippler’s order.
“It is clear they will be testifying to the facts of their investigation, not providing traditional expert opinions,” the order stated.
Who could take the stand in Bryan Kohberger’s trial?
Several law enforcement and forensic experts were included in the defense’s motion.
Jenny Ayers, a forensic scientist with the Idaho State Police, was among those on the list. She collects evidence and facilitates the processing of crime scenes.
The motion named FBI Special Agent Nicholas Ballance to testify about the analysis of the phone records in the investigation.
It also listed Heather and Jared Barnhart, who are with the company Cellebrite, as digital experts retained by law enforcement to analyze Kohberger’s cell phone and computer.
Michael Douglass was listed in the motion. He is a forensic accountant for the FBI to examine the financial activity of Kohberger, the four victims and the two surviving roommates.
Newly released court documents include this smiling selfie of Bryan Kohberger, allegedly taken on the morning four University of Idaho students were killed. 
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, is escorted into court for a hearing in Latah County District Court on Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File) 
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool) 
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused in the killings of four University of Idaho students, was transported by plane from the Idaho county where he was being jailed to another county where his trial will be held. (Credit: Ada County Sheriff’s Office) 
FILE – Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. On Wednesday, Aug. 2, attorneys for Kohberger, accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death last year, said he was on a long drive by himself around the time of the slayings. (Zach Wilkinson/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP, Pool, File) 
FILE – Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Law enforcement officials seized dark clothing, medical gloves, a flashlight and other items from a Pennsylvania home where they arrested Kohberger, a graduate student charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death, according to newly unsealed court documents. The records were made public Tuesday, Feb. 28. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File) 
Bryan Kohberger, facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of four University of Idaho students last fall, is seen at the Monroe County Courthouse in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. 
FILE – Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, leaves after an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. Nearly two months after four University of Idaho students were killed near campus — and two weeks after a suspect was arrested and charged with the crime — the picturesque school grounds are starting to feel a little closer to normal. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool, File) 
Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, is escorted to an extradition hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool)
Shane Cox is a litigation and regulatory manager for Amazon. The defense stated he could testify to the Amazon purchase history from January 5, 2022, to December 13, 2022, of the defendant, produced by Amazon and provided to law enforcement.
The motion listed Detective Darren Gilbertson, a lead investigator for the Idaho State Patrol in the case. It also included ISP Forensic Lab Scientists. The State used several forensic lab scientists for the case.
Dr. Gary Dawson, a toxicologist, was disclosed in “rebuttal by the State to testify to the degree of impairment of the victims.”
The defense also listed Rob Hille, a special agent with the FBI, who reviewed surveillance footage from before and after the killings, capturing Kohberger’s suspected vehicle.
Also included were Detective Lawrence Mowery of the Moscow Police Department; Agent Jeffrey Tanzola, a special agent with the FBI; and Detective Neil Uhrig, forensic examiner and detective sergeant for the Post Falls Police Department; all are forensic detectives who worked on this case.
Will the witness lists be released before Bryan Kohberger’s trial?
The defense and prosecution witness lists will be kept under seal, as per the judge’s order.
The defense’s motion listed several names of potential expert witnesses for the prosecution who could testify in the Boise courtroom this summer.
Will Bryan Kohberger take the stand?
Kohberger’s defense team has stated that it is unlikely he will testify during the trial and cited his autism diagnosis as the primary factor.
His lawyers are arguing against the death penalty due to his autism and wrote in court filings, “Mr. Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reduces his culpability, negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment, and exposes him to the unacceptable risk that he will be wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death.”
The 30-year-old Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder tied to the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — at an apartment in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
Goncalves father, Steve Goncalves, spoke with NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield about the recently filed court documents that show why the surviving roommates, D.M. and B.F., waited hours before calling 911.
The father of the murdered 21-year-old college student said he understood why the two roommates called friends before 911.
“That’s definitely a puzzling part of it. I always assume you have somebody scared, girl, slightly intoxicated. My own daughter when my son was playing a prank on her, acting like he was being attacked, him and his mom, Kaylee ran upstairs and hid under the bed and called me at work. When people are scared, they’re young, they don’t think the same way as a grown adult does,” Goncalves told Banfield.
…”I think they were just thinking that something bad had happened, but they weren’t ready to believe it. They weren’t really mentally prepared to accept what was happening, and I totally understand that because it’s not something that we’re used to in Idaho. It’s unheard of.”