Judge rules on Kohberger motion to remove death penalty over autism diagnosis

Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman on Apr 24, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — Bryan Kohberger’s autism spectrum diagnosis won’t prevent him from facing the death penalty if the 30-year-old is convicted at his upcoming capital murder trial, the presiding judge ruled Thursday.

Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler concluded that Kohberger’s attorneys failed to show how his neurological and developmental disability is equivalent to an intellectual disability. They also didn’t prove that there is a national consensus against subjecting people with autism to the death penalty, Hippler said.

Autism could be a “mitigating factor to be weighed against the aggravating factors” in deciding whether Kohberger should receive the death penalty, but doesn’t disqualify him from such a sentence, Hippler wrote in the 15-page order.

Lead defense attorney Anne Taylor argued in a March motion that a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on intellectual disabilities should be expanded to include people with autism since Kohberger’s diagnosis shares similarities and “exposes him to the unacceptable risk” that he’ll be wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

But two legal experts told The Idaho Statesman this month that, absent of cognitive or mental deficits, the precedent set in Atkins v. Virginia likely won’t be enough to take the death penalty off the table for Kohberger. But they didn’t discount the challenges people with autism face in the legal system.

Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder in the killing of four University of Idaho students, and if he’s convicted, prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty.

This is one of the latest — and likely final — attempts by Kohberger’s attorneys to remove the death penalty as an option. His public defense team has filed a slew of motions to prevent the possibility, which included arguments that capital punishment is unconstitutional, breaks with evolving standards of decency, violates international law and is arbitrarily applied.

One other motion filed last month, looking to remove the death penalty over allegations that the prosecution “shirked its responsibility” to disclose evidence on time and violated the court’s discovery deadlines is still pending.

The homicide victims were Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. The three women lived at the off-campus home with the other two female roommates, while Chapin was Kernodle’s boyfriend and slept over for the night.

Kohberger’s murder trial is scheduled to begin at the Ada County Courthouse with jury selection in late July.