Suspect in Idaho slayings not expected to fight extradition

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A man facing first-degree murder charges in the slayings of four University of Idaho students in November is not expected to fight extradition at a hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania, where he was captured at his parents’ home.

Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old doctoral student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was taken into custody early Friday by state police in eastern Pennsylvania, authorities said.

Monroe County’s chief public defender, Jason LaBar, said his client is eager to be exonerated and plans to tell a judge in Pennsylvania that he will waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly taken to Idaho.

LaBar said his client should be presumed innocent and “not tried in the court of public opinion.”

Capt. Anthony Dahlinger, of the Moscow Police Department in Idaho, told The Associated Press on Saturday that authorities believe Kohberger was responsible for all four slayings.

“We believe we’ve got our man,” he said, adding that investigators obtained samples of Kohberger’s DNA directly from him after he was arrested.

Kohberger’s relatives in Pennsylvania have expressed sympathy for the families of the victims but vowed to support him and promote “his presumption of innocence.”