Judge keeps death penalty a possibility for man charged in killings of 4 Idaho students

Idaho’s Boise (AP) A judge decided Wednesday that a man accused of murder in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students will still be eligible for the death penalty.

Bryan Kohberger’s defense team’s legal arguments to have it removed as an option if he is found guilty in the case did not persuade Judge Steven Hippler, according to KBOI-TV.

Kohberger’s lawyers had argued, among other things, that the death sentence is harsh to make convicted people wait decades for execution, that it violates an international treaty that forbids torturing prisoners, and that it does not meet today’s norms of decency.

Prosecutors pointed out that the Idaho Supreme Court had already taken into account a number of those factors in previous capital trials and upheld the death penalty.

Kohberger is charged with the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin on November 13, 2022. Based on DNA recovered on a knife sheath at the site, surveillance footage, and cellphone data, investigators claimed to have connected Kohberger, who was then an undergraduate student at neighboring Washington State University, to the crime.

As he frequently did to gaze at the sky, Kohberger’s lawyers have claimed that on the night of the murders, he went for a drive. Last year, Kohberger refused to submit a plea when requested to do so, so a judge entered a not-guilty plea on his place.

It is anticipated that his trial will start in August of next year and go for up to three months.

If Kohberger is found guilty, the prosecution has stated that they will pursue the death penalty.

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