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.
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. Authorities have indicated the students were killed sometime after 4 a.m. Their bodies were discovered later that morning after roommates were unable to contact them.
In a separate ruling Thursday in the case, 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.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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