University of Idaho killings: Bryan Kohberger argues against death penalty

Bryan Kohberger’s attorneys want death penalty off the table

Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students
The four students were stabbed to death in an off-campus home in 2022
Kohberger's defense claims death penalty is unconstitutional

Updated: Sep 6, 2024 / 04:17 PM EDT

FILE – Bryan Kohberger, right, is escorted into a courtroom for a hearing in Latah County District Court, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Lawyers for Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students, are urging a judge to move his murder trial away from the county, arguing the intense media coverage and public interest make it impossible for him to get a fair trial. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)

(NewsNation) — Bryan Kohberger’s defense team is attempting to get the death penalty removed as a potential punishment for the man accused of killing four college students in November 2022.

Kohberger — a 29-year-old criminal justice graduate student — faces first-degree murder and burglary charges for allegedly breaking into an off-campus rental house and killing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty if Kohberger is found guilty.

Kohberger’s attorneys filed challenges to the state’s capital punishment plan Thursday, Idaho Judicial Branch spokesperson Nate Poppino told the Idaho Statesman.

In 13 filings, they argued that “Idaho has no viable method for killing” in a death penalty case, adding that the state’s death penalty plan violates the U.S. Constitution.

“The process provided to Mr. Kohberger up to this point has failed to adequately protect him from being arbitrarily selected for the death penalty,” one filing reads, according to NBC.

His attorneys claimed executing Kohberger by “means of lethal injection or a gunshot as conceived of by the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) would violate his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and his right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

Idaho’s other legal execution method — death by firing squad — “is not and was never constitutional,” the attorneys wrote.

Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson cited four aggravating factors in the state’s decision to pursue the death penalty. According to a filing obtained by the Seattle Times, Thompson pointed to the deaths as being “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.”

Last week, Kohberger and his team made the argument to get his trial moved out of Moscow, as it would be impossible to maintain a fair trial in the college town.

A trial date was initially set for October 2023, but Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, pushing it back to June 2025.