lawyers Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger they fight to hit death penalty In his high-profile case, he argued that the state had “no real way” to execute a convicted prisoner and that the so-called methods, which alternatively included an “inhumane” firing squad, were “arbitrary” and “unconstitutional.” ”

Kohberger, 29, old Washington State University The criminology student accused of slaying four University of Idaho students at their off-campus home in November 2022 could face the death penalty if found guilty of the murders at his trial next summer.

The trial into the shocking murders that shook small-town Moscow was recently moved to Boise after the defense successfully argued that Kohberger could not have an impartial jury in the close-knit community because of extensive media coverage that had the potential to taint the jury pool.

Kohberger, wearing a dark suit, blue shirt and tie, appeared in an Ada County courtroom with his defense team on Thursday; The defense team argued that their client, if convicted under Idaho law, could face death by firing squad because of the shortage of lethal injection drugs in the country. country.

“If what Idaho is doing right now really isn’t working, I don’t believe our constitution allows us to go forward and sentence him to death row for years to come,” said Ann Taylor, Kohberger’s public defender. judge.

“I don’t think it’s a realistic option for him to be sentenced to death and for Idaho to say that at some point in the future they’re going to figure out how to kill you in a way that’s not cruel, unusual, or a violation of your rights,” he added.

Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler, recently assigned to the case, asked Taylor: “So you’re saying that apprehension of not knowing is a constitutional violation?”

“This is anxiety. “This is fear,” he replied. “It’s not knowing.”

He argued that Idaho does not currently have the capacity to execute death row inmates, so keeping someone on death row without a way to execute them is “dehumanizing.”

Latah County prosecutors responded to the defense’s argument, stating that Idaho’s current method of execution is lethal injection and that it is indeed possible.

“You don’t know what an alternative might be decades from now, maybe decades from now they’ll have a better argument for the method of execution, because maybe there might be another method,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Nye, who defended those methods. The execution decision should not take the death penalty off the table.

“You can’t just short-circuit everything at the outset and say death is off the table because the current method is unconstitutional,” Nye said. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be a death decades from now.” A way to sentence him to death.”

Idaho, one of 27 U.S. states that allow capital punishment, currently allows death by lethal injection and, starting last year, a firing squad.

Judge Hippler said that after hearing the arguments of both the prosecution and the defense, he would take the matter into consideration and issue a written decision at a later date.

Judge Hippler also ruled on an earlier motion to allow Kohberger to wear traditional courtroom attire rather than prison jumpsuits during pretrial hearings.

Kohberger’s attorney filed the motion last month, citing a 1976 Supreme Court decision that said forcing a defendant to wear a prison uniform to court could negatively impact whether a jury finds them guilty of the alleged crimes.

Former criminology Ph.D. The student pleaded not guilty to all charges related to the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, whose bodies were found in their off-campus home in November 2022.

Kohberger was arrested about six weeks later and charged with the murders.

His trial is scheduled to begin in August 2025 and is expected to last until November 2025.