Judge Determines Bryan Kohberger’s Autism Does Not Exempt Him from Death Penalty

April 25, 2025 TruthUSA

Bryan Kohberger is charged with the murder of four University of Idaho students in 2022.

An Idaho judge determined on Thursday that Bryan Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) does not provide grounds for dismissing the death penalty as a possible sentence if he is found guilty of murdering four University of Idaho students.

The 30-year-old is accused of fatally stabbing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, whose bodies were discovered in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022.

“While ASD may be a mitigating factor to consider alongside aggravating factors in deciding whether a defendant qualifies for the death penalty, it does not serve as a disqualifier for capital punishment,” stated Ada County Judge Steven Hippler in his April 24, 2025, order.

The oral argument for the motion was held on April 9, with the Court considering the issue until Thursday.

Prosecutors have announced their intention to pursue the death penalty should Kohberger be convicted at his trial, scheduled to begin in August. Meanwhile, Kohberger’s defense contends that imposing the death penalty would violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guards against cruel and unusual punishment.

The defense requested that Judge Hippler eliminate the death penalty as a sentencing option, referencing recent laws in Ohio and Kentucky that prohibit the death penalty for individuals with severe mental illness.

Judge Hippler recognized the increasing societal awareness surrounding mental health disorders and mentioned that evidence of changing standards of decency should arise from legislative and executive measures.

“The fact that two states have enacted protections for individuals with severe mental illness against execution does not equate to a national consensus,” Hippler articulated in his ruling. “Additionally, these two jurisdictions’ laws specifically pertain to schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and delusional disorder, but do not address ASD.”

Idaho permits both lethal injection and firing squads as methods of execution.

Notably, House Bill 37, which was signed by Idaho Governor Brad Little on March 12, designates the firing squad as the primary execution method starting July 1, 2026.

The defense team for Kohberger also referred to the Supreme Court case Atkins v. Virginia, which determined that individuals with intellectual disabilities cannot be executed for a crime.

However, Judge Hippler sided with Special Assistant Attorney General Jeff Nye’s contention that having ASD does not inherently imply the presence of intellectual disabilities.

“While there are overlapping adaptive challenges between intellectually disabled individuals and those with ASD, the intellectual shortcoming—crucial for defining an intellectual disability—is absent in ASD diagnoses,” Hippler clarified in his order.

Kohberger was a Ph.D. criminology student at Washington State University’s Pullman campus when he was apprehended at his parents’ residence in Pennsylvania in December 2022, following the identification of Kohberger as a suspect through DNA evidence linked to the murders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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