The judge overseeing the case of Bryan Kohberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, issued a series of ruling on Thursday, responding to several motions, including one to disallow the death penalty in case of conviction because of Kohberger’s recent diagnosis with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense motion to remove the death penalty, saying that his attorneys “failed to show that ASD is equivalent to an intellectual disability for death penalty exemption purposes.” Further, the judge wrote, the defense has not shown there is national consensus against subjecting individuals with ASD to capital punishment.”
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“ASD may be mitigating factor to be weighed against the aggravating factors in determining if defendant should receive the death penalty, but it is not (a) death-penalty disqualifier,” Hippler said.
Prosecutors had argued that Kohberger’s diagnosis of mild autism was “without accompanying intellectual … impairment.”
Kohberger was a graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University, about 10 miles from the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, Idaho, at the time of the murders of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves on November 13, 2022. He was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania about six weeks later after investigators said they had matched his DNA to a sample found on a knife sheath left at the crime scene.
Read more from CrimeOnline about the University of Idaho murders.
Hearing on the motions at issue in Thursday’s rulings were held earlier this month. Hippler also responded to a defense motion to limit or exclude testimony from a number of expert witnesses on the prosecution’s list. In detail, he denied the motion.
Another motion sought to limit or exclude text messages between the surviving roommates on the morning of the murders as well as the 911. call made when they discovered the bodies. Hippler ruled that some of the hearsay statements from the 911 call must be redacted but that most of the information in the texts and 911 is “likely admissible provided that the requisite foundation is laid at trial.”
Kohberger’s trial is set to begin in August, with jury selection to start in late July.
