Judge considers death penalty option in Kohberger case

Bryan Kohberger and his attorneys were back in a Boise courtroom Thursday in their push to drop the death penalty as a possible sentence with murder convictions in the killing of four University of Idaho students at trial next summer.

After the hours-long arguments on the appropriateness of the death penalty and whether 29-year-old Kohberger — if convicted — should face it, Ada County Judge Steven Hippler, of Idaho’s 4th Judicial District, took the prosecution and defenses opposing opinions under advisement and said he’d issued written rulings at a later date. 

However, throughout the hearing, which was attended by roughly two dozen people, Hipper interjected as both sides presented arguments, particularly challenging Kohberger’s attorneys, Anne Taylor and Elisa Massoth, on the merits of their arguments and why he’d consider removing the death penalty when both the Idaho and U.S. supreme courts have established it as an option under the law. 

Hippler also questioned why he’d even make any decision at this point given the length of capital cases — which typically include drawn-out appeals, meaning it would likely be years before Kohberger could be executed. 

“The reality is, if he is convicted, we know it’s going to be a decade-plus before that sentence would be carried out — and who knows what the methods may be then,” Hippler said from the bench of Ada County’s largest courtroom. “Why wouldn’t we wait until that time frame to see what the current methods are? Who knows what, what technology is going to be available at that time?”

Idaho, one of 27 U.S. states that maintain capital punishment, will seek to place the defendant on death row if jurors find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for the violent crime. Idaho’s approved execution methods include lethal injection and death by firing squad. 

Kohberger’s defense argues that the death penalty is arbitrary, inappropriate under modern standards and unconstitutional. Prosecutors counter it is the law of the land in Idaho, and constitutionally defensible based upon precedent in both the state and U.S. supreme courts. 

Hippler scheduled the four-hour hearing Thursday for oral arguments. 

Despite arguments from Kohberger’s attorneys, Hippler denied the defense’s request to allow two experts — U of I law professor Aliza Cover and Dr. Barbara Wolf, a medical examiner licensed in Florida — to testify Thursday. Hippler said Cover’s law review article focused on narrowing the use of the death penalty in Idaho and a declaration submitted by Wolf would be sufficient enough.

Three hours into the hearing, and following a flurry of varying motions aimed at removing the death penalty in Kohberger’s closely watched case, the court broke for lunch.

 “My schedule is already shot to hell,” Hippler quipped earlier in the morning as one of the planned discussions ran long. 

By 1:45 p.m. the court adjourned for the day. 

“I will take the matters under advisement and issue written opinions forthwith,” Hippler said. 

Jury selection in Kohberger’s murder trial is not scheduled to start until July 30, 2025.

Kohberger is accused of the November 2022 stabbing deaths of the four U of I students at a home near campus in Moscow. At the time he was a graduate student at Washington State University living just over the Idaho-Washington border in Pullman.