After initially fighting attempts by his legal team to force her testimony, one of the surviving roommates in a stabbing incident that killed four University of Idaho students has consented to talk with defense counsel for suspect Bryan Kohberger.
A counsel representing Bethany Funke consented in a court file acquired by CNN affiliate KRNV on Wednesday to make Funke accessible for an interview with defense lawyers in Reno, Nevada, instead of appearing at a preliminary hearing slated for late June in Idaho.
Previously, Kohberger’s legal team requested that a Nevada court order Funke to come to Idaho and appear as a witness, claiming that her evidence would be exculpatory and that her “information is unique to her experiences and cannot be provided by another witness.”
Funke, who returned to Reno after the shootings last November, had contested the subpoena.
Kelli Anne Viloria, her attorney, filed a motion to quash it, stating that “there is no further information or detail pertaining to the substance of the testimony, its materiality, or Ms. Funke’s alleged exculpatory information, or why it would be entertained at the preliminary hearing.”
It is unclear when Funke will talk with defense counsel, what information she has, and if it will aid Kohberger.
Kohberger is facing four charges of first-degree murder. He might face the death sentence if proven guilty.
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were all fatally stabbed by Kohberger, 28.
The discovery of the grisly murder scene on November 13 devastated the little college town’s feeling of security and stressed the nerves of students and neighbors as the hunt for a suspect began.
Following his December arrest at his parents’ Pennsylvania home, Kohberger has yet to enter a plea and is being held without bail in the Latah County Jail in Idaho.
A court order forbids any parties from making any comments other than referring to the case’s public documents.
