Idaho college murders: Judge denies attempt to rule out death penalty

A judge on Thursday refused to rule out the death penalty in the trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in 2022.

Defense attorneys for Bryan Kohberger had sought to strike capital punishment as an option in his upcoming murder trial, but Judge Steven Hippler denied the request.

Attorneys for Kohberger argued that he was recently found to have autism spectrum disorder and that the death penalty would be "dehumanizing."

"No court has ever found ASD to be a categorically death-disqualifying diagnosis," Hippler wrote in the ruling.

He wrote that prosecutors were correct in their arguments that autism spectrum disorder does not qualify under the law for exemptions for the death penalty under intellectual disabilities, and that there is no national consensus on the issue.

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Chilling text messages revealed in Idaho murder case

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Kohberger is charged with murder and other counts in the stabbing deaths of four students in an off-campus Moscow, Idaho, home where most of the victims lived on Nov. 13, 2022.

He is accused of killing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in the three story-home. Investigators believe the students were killed sometime between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., according to court documents. Their bodies were discovered later that morning after roommates were unable to contact them.

Hippler in November had previously ruled that prosecutors could seek the death penalty in the case.

In a separate ruling Thursday, Hippler allowed the 911 call from the surviving roommates the day the bodies were discovered and texts to be admitted at trial, as long the proper foundation is laid. Some redactions were ordered.

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Kohberger was a resident of Pullman, Washington, around 10 miles from Moscow, and he was doctoral student in the criminal justice and criminology department at the Washington State University when the killings occurred.

He was arrested in northeastern Pennsylvania on Dec. 30, 2022.

Kohberger has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. A judge has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11.

A motive remains unclear in the slayings.