Court Filing
Electronically Filed 10/24/2024 2:12 PM Fourth Judicial District, Ada County Trent Tripple, Clerk of the Court Anne Taylor Law, PLLC By: Jennifer Keyes, Deputy Clerk Anne C. Taylor, Attorney at Law PO Box 2347 Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83816 Phone: (208) 512-9611 iCourt Email: info@annetaylorlaw.com Jay W. Logsdon, First District Public Defender Idaho State Public Defender 1450 Northwest Blvd. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814 Phone: (208) 605-4575 Elisa G. Massoth, PLLC Attorney at Law P.O. Box 1003 Payette, Idaho 83661 Phone: (208) 642-3797; Fax: (208)642-3799 Assigned Attorney: Anne C. Taylor, Attorney at Law, Bar Number: 5836 Jay W. Logsdon, First District Public Defender, Bar Number: 8759 Elisa G. Massoth, Attorney at Law, Bar Number: 5647 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF IDAHO, IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF ADA STATE OF IDAHO CASE NUMBER CR01-24-31665 Plaintiff, REPLY TO STATE'S OBJECTION ΤΟ DEFENDANT'S MOTION REGARDING V. NONSTATUTORY AGGRAVATING EVIDENCE BRYAN C. KOHBERGER, Defendant. COMES NOW, Bryan C. Kohberger, by and through his attorneys of record, and submits this Reply to the State's Objection to his Motion for an order requiring: (1) that the prosecution provide the defense with notice of any nonstatutory aggravating fact / circumstance it intends to prove at the sentencing phase, if any sentencing phase is conducted; and (2) that the prosecution REPLY TO STATE'S OBJECTION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION REGARDING NONSTATUTORY AGGRAVATING EVIDENCE Page 1 be required to prove any such nonstatutory aggravating fact / circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt to the unanimous satisfaction of the jury before any juror may consider an alleged aggravating fact / circumstance as a reason to support a death sentence. The State concedes the necessity of providing notice of nonstatutory aggravators and Mr. Kohberger requests nothing additional at this time. The State, however, argues against its burden. Not only does it argue that it need not prove nonstatutory aggravation beyond a reasonable doubt, it apparently has no burden as to these aggravators at all. To arrive here, the State puts enormous weight on this line from State v. Creech, 105 Idaho 362, 369, 670 P.2d 463, 470 (1983): “... that section of the court's findings denominated " 5. Facts and Arguments Found in Aggravation, " although including circumstances not statutorily listed and not expressly found beyond a reasonable doubt, is not error. ” Putting to the side the fact that when Creech was decided it was a judge, not a jury, making decisions in death cases, the word “ expressly ” does not do for the State what it thinks it does. At the time of Creech, judges had to provide written findings as to statutory aggravators when determining whether to impose death. See I.C. 19-2515 (1983). Thus “ expressly " is simply in reference to what the Court had to put in its written findings. The Court in Creech was not holding that nonstatutory aggravators could be found without proof, much less without proof beyond a reasonable doubt. This Court should so find. DATED this 24 day of October, 2024 Jay Lessderr BY: JAY W. LOGSDON FIRST DISTRICT PUBLIC DEFENDER REPLY TO STATE'S OBJECTION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION REGARDING NONSTATUTORY AGGRAVATING EVIDENCE Page 2 CERTIFICATE OF DELIVERY I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was personally served as indicated below on the 24 day of October, 2024 addressed to: Latah County Prosecuting Attorney –via Email: paservice@latahcountyid.gov Elisa Massoth – via Email: legalassistant@kmrs.net Jay Logsdon – via Email: Jay.Logsdon@spd.idaho.gov Ingrid Batey – via Email: ingrid.batey@ag.idaho.gov Jeff Nye-via Email: jeff.nye@ag.idaho.gov D REPLY TO STATE'S OBJECTION TO DEFENDANT'S MOTION REGARDING NONSTATUTORY AGGRAVATING EVIDENCE Page 3