A judge in Idaho ruled on Thursday that, despite Kohberger’s recent diagnosis of autism, prosecutors could pursue the death sentence against him if he were to be convicted of the murder of four University of Idaho students by 2022.
Kohberger (30) is charged with the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves at a Moscow, Idaho rental house on November 13, 2022.
The prosecution will seek the death sentence if Kohberger’s trial begins in August. His attorneys, however, asked Judge Steven Hippler not to consider the death penalty a punishment option because of Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. They also filed other motions to challenge the death penalty. One of these was based on alleged violations by the state when it comes to providing evidence.
Defense attorneys wrote that Mr. Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder reduced his culpability and negated the retributive, deterrent, and rehabilitative purposes of capital punishment. It also exposed him to an unacceptable risk of being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die.
According to them, executing a person with autism would be cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
The prosecution argued that, under U.S. Supreme Court precedents, the only mental impairment that would prevent the imposition of the death penalty was an intellectual disability. Kohberger had been diagnosed with mild autism without accompanying intellectual impairment.
The judge agreed.
“Not only has Defendant failed to show that ASD is equivalent to an intellectual disability for death penalty exemption purposes, he has not shown there is national consensus against subjecting individuals with ASD to capital punishment,” Hippler wrote. “ASD may be a mitigating factor to be weighed against the aggravating factors in determining if the defendant should receive the death penalty, but it is not a death-penalty disqualifier.”
Kohberger, a graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman (about 10 miles away from Moscow) at the time, was a student there at the time. He was arrested weeks later in Pennsylvania. Investigators said that they matched the DNA of his fingerprint to genetic material found in a knife sheath recovered at the crime scene.
The autopsies revealed that the four victims had been asleep at the time of their attack. Some suffered defensive wounds, and all were stabbed several times.
After Kohberger was arrested, his lawyers had him examined and diagnosed by Dr. Rachel Orr. She said that he has “Autism Spectrum disorder, Level 1, with no accompanying intellectual or linguistic impairment.”
The judge ruled that the jury will be able to hear a large part of the 911 call placed by the two roommates who survived the murders about eight hours later, when they realized their roommate wasn’t awake.
Hippler stated that Hippler will exclude from the trial any statements made by an anonymous woman during the call who relayed information that she did not observe first-hand.
The jury will be able to see the text messages sent by the two roommates who survived the attack. This is if prosecutors can establish a basis for admitting the evidence.