Moscow, Idaho – A judge ruled on Thursday that prosecutors in the case against Bryan Kohberger can pursue the death penalty if he is found guilty of murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022, despite his recent autism diagnosis. Kohberger, aged 30, stands accused of the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near the university campus on November 13, 2022.
During the proceedings, prosecutors expressed their intent to seek the death penalty should Kohberger be convicted at his trial scheduled to commence in August. However, his defense team petitioned Judge Steven Hippler to eliminate the death penalty as a viable punishment, highlighting Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis as a mitigating factor. They have lodged various motions challenging the death penalty, including allegations of evidence mishandling by the state.
In court documents, Kohberger’s defense attorneys argued that his autism spectrum disorder diminishes his culpability, undermines the retributive and deterrent aspects of capital punishment, and raises concerns about the risk of wrongful conviction and imposition of the death penalty. They contended that executing an individual with autism would violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Prosecutors countered by citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, pointing out that only an intellectual disability can prevent the imposition of the death penalty, and Kohberger’s diagnosis of mild autism did not include any associated intellectual impairment. Kohberger, a graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman near Moscow, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings. Investigators linked his DNA to evidence recovered from a knife sheath at the crime scene, and autopsies revealed that the victims were likely asleep when they were attacked, sustaining multiple stab wounds, with some showing defensive injuries.