The Pennsylvania public defender who dealt with University of Idaho murder suspect Brian Koberger was so shocked that the case ended up in his lap, he hung up after being told the news.
“I didn’t think I was being told the truth,” said Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar he told local station WFMZ.
After Kohberger was arrested last month at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pa., the couple spent four hours over five days helping the alleged killer navigate the extradition process, LaBar said.
“The first thing I said to him was, ‘Brian, don’t tell me anything about the case. I don’t want to know any of the facts and circumstances,” said LaBar, who is no longer involved in the case now that Kohberger is back in Latah County facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
The newly unsealed police affidavit offers a “strong circumstantial case” against his former client, but the public defender doesn’t think it’s watertight.
“Taken in isolation, the evidence could be attacked,” he said, though he could not explain why Koberger’s DNA was in the case if he was not involved in the attack.
