Bryan Kohberger’s Defense Says His Amazon Shopping List Should Be Excluded From Evidence

Bryan Kohberger’s Amazon shopping habits should not be part of his trial in the murders of four University of Idaho students, defense attorneys argued in a recently filed motion.

Kohberger is accused of entering an off-campus house and stabbing to death Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. At the time of the killings, Kohberger was a Ph.D criminology student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, located about eight miles from the crime scene.

Previously, prosecutors disclosed that Shane Cox would provide expert testimony regarding Kohberger’s activity on Amazon including his “Amazon Click Activity,” Fox News reported.

In arguing to exclude the data, the defense stated that Amazon uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) that goes beyond reflecting what a person searches for. Rather, the defense stated that Amazon can “shape user behavior through recommendations, paid advertisements, and algorithmic reinforcement.”

“Often when searching for something on Amazon, the end of the pathway does not tell the beginning of the pathway,” the defense stated. The result is that the user’s “browsing and purchasing history may not necessarily reflect deliberate intent.”

The defense also stated that the “Amazon Click Activity” could be cherry-picked and lack context and that the account was a shared account with other family members. “The discovery produced related to all Amazon data and “click activity” in this case is extremely limited and therefore constitutionally incomplete, out of context and inadmissible.”

A judge has yet to rule on the defense request. Kohberger’s trial is set to begin in August.