Bad news for Bryan Kohberger.
It feels like many of the updates we’ve gotten lately on this case were beneficial to the defendant. But this was one of the biggest decisions, hovering like the Sword of Damocles over the accused murderer’s head. And it just fell.
Kohberger stands accused of the horrific murders of four University of Idaho students back in November 2022. When roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, and Xana Kernodle, as well as Kana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were found stabbed to death in their Moscow house, like a scene out of a slasher film, it terrified the hell out of half the state for weeks. Kohberger’s arrest a month later may have put a lot of concerns to bed — but the journey to justice for the families has been a slow one.
On Wednesday, just over two years after the killings, the judge has ruled that Kohberger can be sentenced to the death penalty.
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Obviously, we aren’t there yet! He hasn’t even been convicted! But Kohberger’s hardworking defense team tried to get capital punishment off the table entirely, arguing in a mammoth legal filing that the death penalty was unconstitutional and also against “contemporary standards of decency.” That argument may have carried some weight in California… but this is Idaho. The death penalty is on the books in the state, and that doesn’t look likely to change soon. It certainly isn’t going to change for someone found guilty of butchering four innocent kids.
Per ABC News, Judge Steven Hippler said as much in his ruling on Wednesday, though in a LOT more words. In 55 pages of argument he concluded “there is no basis to depart from settled law upholding Idaho’s death penalty statute as constitutional.”
He also disagreed with the idea that Kohberger’s potential long wait on death row was especially cruel. See, the state apparently is low on lethal injection drugs, so there’s some question about how and when anyone sentenced to death will actually be killed. But the judge decided the method was for a later discussion — and for now it was enough that both lethal injection and the firing squad (!!!) are both legal and constitutional in Idaho, like it or not.
Damn, so Kohberger may get the firing squad? Wow.
If we were Kohberger or his defense lawyers, we’d certainly be sweating now. There’s still a mountain of evidence against him, and change of venue or not, it’s going to be tough to get a jury who hasn’t heard about the bloodbath.
Not the brightest future or best present for Kohberger, whose birthday is on Thursday. But hey, at least he’ll turn 30, something Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan don’t ever get to do.
The trial will finally begin, assuming no more delays, in August 2025.
[Image via Monroe County Correctional Facility/Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram.]
