Judge maintains death penalty as possible punishment for Bryan Kohberger despite autism diagnosis

BOISE Idaho AP A judge ruled Thursday that prosecutors can pursue the death penalty against Bryan Kohberger if he is convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students in despite the defendant s current autism assessment Kohberger is charged in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin Xana Kernodle Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow Idaho on Nov Prosecutors explained they intended to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted at his trial which is set to begin in August But his attorneys inquired Judge Steven Hippler to remove the death penalty as a manageable punishment citing Kohberger s identification of autism spectrum disorder They have also filed several other motions challenging the death penalty including one based on purported violations by the state in providing evidence Mr Kohberger s autism spectrum disorder ASD reduces his culpability negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment and exposes him to the unacceptable danger that he will be wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death defense attorneys wrote in court papers They argued that executing someone with autism would constitute cruel and distinctive punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the U S Constitution Prosecutors argued that under U S Supreme Court precedent the only mental disability that precludes imposition of the death penalty is an intellectual disability and Kohberger s evaluation was of mild autism without accompanying intellectual impairment Kohberger was a criminal justice graduate pupil at Washington State University in Pullman about miles kilometers from Moscow at the time of the killings in November He was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks later Investigators declared they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath exposed at the crime scene Autopsies revealed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked specific had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times