BOISE, Idaho — Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty for the man accused of stabbing to death four University of Idaho students late last year.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths at a rental home near the Moscow, Idaho, college campus last November. Latah County District Attorney Bill Thompson filed the notice of intent for him to seek the death penalty in court on Monday.
A plea of not guilty was entered in the case on Kohberger’s behalf earlier this year. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found on November 13, 2022, in a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The killings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.
Police released few details about the investigation until Kohberger was arrested at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania early on December 30, 2022. Court documents detailed how police collected DNA evidence, phone data cell phones and surveillance video they say links Kohberger to the murders. .
Investigators said DNA traces found on a knife sheath inside the home where the students were killed match Kohberger’s, and that a cellphone belonging to the man had been near the victims’ home a dozen times before. of the murders.
A white sedan purported to match one owned by Kohberger was caught on surveillance footage repeatedly driving past the rental home at the time of the murders.
But defense attorneys have filed motions asking the court to order prosecutors to turn over more evidence about DNA found during the investigation, searches of Kohberger’s phone and social media records, and surveillance footage used to identify the make and model of the car. The motions are among several that will be argued during the Tuesday afternoon hearing.
In an affidavit filed with the motions, defense attorney Anne Taylor said prosecutors only provided the DNA profile that was taken from traces found on the knife’s sheath, not DNA profiles belonging to three other unidentified men who developed as part of the investigation.
Defense attorneys are also asking for additional time to meet case filing deadlines, noting that they have received thousands of pages of documents to examine, including thousands of photographs, hundreds of hours of recordings, and many gigabytes of electronic phone records and network data. social.
WHAT IS REQUIRED TO REQUEST THE DEATH PENALTY?
Idaho law requires prosecutors to notify the court of their intent to seek the death penalty within 60 days of entering a guilty plea.
In his notice of intent, District Attorney Thompson listed five “aggravating circumstances” that he claimed could qualify for the capital offense under state law; including that more than one murder was committed during the crime, that it was especially heinous or displayed exceptional depravity, that it was committed in the commission of a robbery or other crime, and that the defendant showed “total disregard for human life.”
If a defendant is convicted in a death penalty case, defense attorneys also have the opportunity to show that there are mitigating factors that would make the death penalty unfair. Mitigating factors sometimes include evidence that a defendant is mentally challenged, has shown remorse, is very young, or suffered child abuse.
Idaho allows executions by lethal injection. But in recent months, prison officials have been unable to obtain the necessary chemicals, causing a planned execution to be repeatedly postponed. On July 1, death by firing squad will become an approved endorsement method of execution under a law passed by the Legislature earlier this year, though the method is likely to be challenged in federal court.
2023-06-28 03:28:51
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