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 newest autism assessment Related Articles ICE preparing for second surge in arrests in Greater Boston North Dakota enacts nation s first law shielding Roundup s maker from particular cancer lawsuits USDA withdraws a plan to limit salmonella levels in raw poultry Green resource supporters pushed for faster permitting Trump is doing it but not for solar or wind What to know as US prepares to require REAL ID for countless air travelers next month 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 disclosed they intended to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted at his trial which is set to begin in August But his attorneys urged Judge Steven Hippler to remove the death penalty as a achievable punishment citing Kohberger s finding 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 rare 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 finding was of mild autism without accompanying intellectual impairment Kohberger was a criminal justice graduate candidate 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 commented they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath exposed at the crime scene Autopsies evidenced the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked specific had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times