Murder In Moscow: Stephen Mercer And His Declaration In Support Of Bryan Kohberger

Stephen Mercer, a Maryland criminal-defense attorney with extensive experience litigating DNA and forensic-evidence issues, filed a declaration supporting Bryan Kohberger’s third motion to compel discovery concerning the investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG, work used in the case. Mercer argued that the defense could not meaningfully evaluate the reliability of the genetic investigation without seeing the underlying materials that led investigators from the unknown DNA profile recovered from the knife sheath to Kohberger. His position was that IGG was not merely an irrelevant investigative tip, as prosecutors characterized it, but part of a forensic process that could be examined for errors, assumptions, alternative relatives, laboratory issues and other weaknesses. Mercer emphasized that the defense needed information about how the SNP profile was generated, what laboratory procedures were used, how the genealogical family tree was constructed and which individuals identified through that process were or were not subsequently tested using traditional STR DNA analysis.

Mercer’s declaration also challenged the idea that the prosecution could simply disclose the final STR match to Kohberger while withholding the genetic-genealogy work that helped investigators identify him. He argued that the SNP and IGG materials could provide information relevant to evaluating the reliability and significance of the DNA evidence, including whether other people identified during the genealogical investigation should have been considered or excluded. The declaration therefore supported the defense’s broader argument that it could not independently investigate or challenge the state’s DNA case while being denied access to the process that initially pointed investigators toward Kohberger. Mercer was not claiming that the IGG work itself proved Kohberger was innocent; rather, he maintained that fundamental defense review required access to the underlying data and methodology so Kohberger’s attorneys could determine whether the investigation was scientifically sound, properly conducted and capable of withstanding meaningful adversarial scrutiny.



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