Judge considers death penalty option in Kohberger case
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. The trial for Kohberger, a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year will not happen as scheduled on Oct. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
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.
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