Overview

• Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense's motion to eliminate the death penalty as a sentencing option for Bryan Kohberger, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
• Kohberger, a former Washington State University graduate student, is charged with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November 2022.
• Defense attorneys argued that Kohberger's autism spectrum disorder diagnosis reduces his culpability and makes execution unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.
• Prosecutors maintained that autism does not preclude the death penalty under Idaho law, as only intellectual disabilities are exempt from capital punishment.
• The trial is scheduled to begin in August 2025, with prosecutors committed to pursuing the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.