Idaho college kill!ngs: Bryan Kohberger may face de@th penalty if convicted of Idaho quadruple mu&ders, judge rules

Idaho murder suspect, Bryan Kohberger may face the de@th penalty if convicted in the 2022 stabbing de@ths of four University of Idaho students, a judge has ruled.

 

Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied 12 defense motions in Tuesday's 55-page ruling after Kohberger's defense team tried to get the de@th penalty removed from sentencing in the event of a guilty verdict.

 

Kohberger's attorneys' arguments included claims that forcing inmates to wait for years on de@th row and the methods available for prisoners to be executed in Idaho both constitute cruel and unusual punishment. They also argued Idaho's de@th penalty laws violate an international treaty banning the torture of prisoners.

 

Kohberger's lawyers argued that time spent waiting on death row and the choice of execution methods, which include lethal injection or firing squad, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The attorneys also claimed Idaho's de@th penalty laws violate an international treaty banning the torture of prisoners.

 

"There is no basis to depart from settled law upholding Idaho's de@th penalty statute as constitutional," Hippler wrote in his ruling. It is "consistent with contemporary standards of decency."

Kohberger, 29, is charged with four counts of first-degree mu&der and four counts of felony burglary in the stabb!ng de@ths of Kaylee Gonclaves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

All four students were k!lled inside of an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022. Two other women inside the house were not harmed.

Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania following a six-week manhunt and extradited back to Idaho in January 2023. Six months later, prosecutors announced plans to seek the de@th penalty.

Kohberger, who is a former Washington State University criminology student, did not respond last year when he was asked to enter a plea in the case. A not-guilty plea was entered for him by the judge.

Kohberger's trial is scheduled to begin in August 2025.