Bryan Kohberger’s Fight Against The Death Penalty: ‘What Good Lawyers Do’

A hearing on Thursday could determine whether Bryan Kohberger will face the death penalty in his upcoming murder trial.
Kohberger, 29, is facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. He is accused of fatally stabbing University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus residence in 2022.
Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted. The defense has objected to the state’s intention to seek the death penalty in a series of motions.
The prosecution and defense will have the opportunity to present their arguments to District Judge Steven Hippler on Thursday.
Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, spoke to Newsweek about what to expect from the hearing.
“The defense is doing what good lawyers do, which is to raise every possible legal issue associated with the possible penalty their client is facing, and to challenge them,” Maher said. “It’s really going to be up to the judge to decide how far he wants to take this. He could do a number of things, including ask for additional evidence to support some of the motions that they’re making.”
She said the defense will also use testimony from experts to support their arguments.
“These are pretty typical arguments that are made in a lot of capital cases, although it’s rare to see this many motions made before a trial at a single hearing,” Maher said.
One of the defense’s main arguments is that capital punishment violates Kohberger’s constitutional rights.
“They are alleging that the death penalty as it is currently used is unconstitutional and should not be used in Mr. Kohberger’s case because it’s not consistent with evolving standards of decency, which is the standard that the United States Supreme Court uses when it assesses whether something is cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment,” Maher said. “And they’re supporting that argument by citing a variety of statistics and data that demonstrate the declining use of the death penalty over the past several decades and the low amount of public support there is for the death penalty currently.”
The defense has also raised concerns about the methods of execution used in Idaho, which are lethal injection and firing squad.
“They make arguments about both, alleging that they violate the Eighth Amendment, which is again making the argument that it’s cruel and unusual to use the firing squad or lethal injection,” Maher said. “So they’re throwing a lot of information at this judge to hopefully move the death penalty off the table.”
There are currently nine people on death row in Idaho. In total, 55 death sentences have been handed down in Idaho since 1972.
The state tried to execute Thomas Eugene Creech in February, but they were unable to find a vein to administer the lethal injection. The last inmate executed in the state was Richard Leavitt in 2012 by lethal injection.
The death penalty was taken out of consideration in another high-profile case in the state last year.
An Idaho judge ruled in March of last year that Lori Vallow Daybell could not face the death penalty if she were convicted of murder in the deaths of her two children. The decision came after new DNA evidence was discovered but could not be tested and admitted into court in time for the trial. Daybell was convicted on all charges and sentenced to life in prison.
Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, previously told Newsweek that he thinks the death penalty will remain an option in the Kohberger case.
“As long as the government provides timely notice, which they have, and they comply with their other obligations, including their discovery obligations, they can seek the death penalty for a case like this where there’s a quadruple murder,” Rahmani said.
Newsweek reached out to the defense and prosecution for comment.
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