BOISE, Idaho — Police investigating the Moscow college student homicides did not obtain search warrants in their handling of DNA from the crime scene — the critical, and perhaps only, piece of evidence that ties suspect Bryan Kohberger to the victims — and efforts to block it from his trial hinge on the novel argument they were legally required.

The FBI also ignored internal federal policy in pursuit of the alleged killer when its agents submitted that DNA to a pair of public ancestry databases that law enforcement is restricted from accessing, it was revealed at a court hearing Thursday. Doing so amounts to a breach of private terms of service, and has led the defense in the case to allege constitutional rights violations over the advanced technique that prosecutors acknowledge initially put Kohberger on their radar.

Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s lead attorney, accused police at the pretrial hearing Thursday of intentionally and recklessly sidestepping protocols during their sprawling investigation, in their feverish hunt for the person responsible for violent crime that left four dead. In the process, they broke the law, she said, and also raised defining questions about modern-day policing.

“If society is not ready to support suppression of every bit of our DNA when the government does not have a warrant and searches it, there is no privacy right left,” Taylor told the court at Thursday’s all-day hearing.

Determinations on the legal issues could have broad implications for crime-solving tactics going forward, and how detectives must conduct themselves when they incorporate DNA evidence into their investigations. Ada County Judge Steven Hippler decisions in the matters may very well set the course for not only one of the nation’s most high-profile murder trials, but also many others that may follow.

Kohberger, 30, is suspected in the fatal stabbings of the four University of Idaho students at an off-campus home in Moscow. He faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, and could be sentenced to death if convicted.

The victims were Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. The three women lived in the home on King Road, and Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and stayed over for the night.

Kohberger’s murder trial in Boise is scheduled for this summer. Jury selection is scheduled to start July 30.

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