Bryan Kohberger can face the death penalty if convicted of the murders of four University of Idaho students, a judge has ruled.
Ada County Judge Steven Hippler handed down his ruling on Wednesday, denying 12 motions filed by the 30-year-old’s defense team and finding that “there is no basis to depart from settled law upholding Idaho’s death penalty statute as constitutional.”
The death penalty is “consistent with contemporary standards of decency,” the judge added.
Kohberger’s attorneys had fought to strike the death penalty from the high-profile murder case arguing that the state has “no real means” of using capital punishment in the event of a guilty verdict.
In court filings last week, Kohberger’s lawyers said that forcing inmates to wait for years on death row is “dehumanizing” and the execution methods available for prisoners in Idaho – including an “inhumane” firing squad – are both “arbitrary” and “unconstitutional” forms of punishment.
The defense team also argued Idaho’s death penalty laws violate an international treaty banning the torture of prisoners.
Last Thursday, Kohberger appeared in court in Ada County as his attorneys made their case to the judge arguing that their client could face death by firing squad if convicted under Idaho law, due to the shortage of lethal injection drugs across the country.
“I don’t believe our constitution allows for us to move forward and make him sit on death row for years and years and years if the way Idaho is doing it right now isn’t really working,” attorney Ann Taylor said, as Kohberger, dressed in a dark suit, blue shirt and tie, looked on.
“It’s not a realistic option, I think, to have him sit on death row and say Idaho’s going to figure out how to kill you at some point in the future in a way that isn’t cruel and unusual and a violation of rights,” she added.
Hippler, who was recently assigned to the case, asked Taylor: “So you’re saying the anxiety of not knowing is a constitutional violation?”
“It is anxiety. It is fear,” the attorney responded. “It’s the not knowing.”
Idaho, which is one of 27 states that allow capital punishment, currently permits death by lethal injection and, as of last year, firing squad.
After hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defense, Hippler said he would take the matter under advisement.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the judge sided with the prosecution.
The decision comes after Kohberger’s legal team also filed some 160 pages of court documents, calling for evidence in the case to be thrown out, including his DNA samples, which lawyers claim was “gathered illegally by law enforcement.”
Kohberger, a former Washington State University criminology student, is accused of killing four University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at their off-campus home in Moscow in November 2022.
He was arrested and charged with the murders around six weeks later. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The case was recently moved to Boise after the defense successfully argued that Kohberger would not have an impartial jury in the tight-knit community of Moscow because of the extensive media coverage potentially tainting the jury pool.
Kohberger’s trial is scheduled to begin in August 2025 and is expected to last until November 2025.
