Idaho Judge Makes Decision on Kohberger Case, Death Penalty

Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of eyeballs were on the Ada County Courthouse livestream just weeks ago, as Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger appeared in court for a series of hearings that are leading up to the high profile 2025 trial.

While no new information has been rolled out surround this trial yet--viewers were able to get a closer look at how Bryan Kohberger's defense team will be approaching things, especially in regards to the death penalty.

As the case stood at the time, if Kohberger is to be convicted of murder a year from now by a jury--the Judge, Steven Hippler, will be able to sentence the 29-year-old man to death for his crimes.

Those who have been closely following the case may notice that Judge Steven Hippler is very clear on expectation, order, and moving things along. He has wasted no time in being frank with both prosecution and defense.

Kohberger's defense team explained that the death penalty should be taken off of the table because 'there is no means of execution' right now in the State of Idaho. To which Judge Hippler quickly responded protocol is lethal injection and firing squad is next.

The point that Kohberger's defense was trying to make was that if he were to be sentenced to death, according to them, he would just sit on death row for the rest of his life and never be executed--effectively just serving a life-long term.

Defense also went as far as to say that it would be 'dehumanizing' for Kohberger to sit on death row, not knowing how he would be killed.  Judge Hippler seemed to question 'anxiety' as unconstitutional.

Other arguments made explained that the death penalty is being viewed poorly by the public more and more and that many jurors are bothered by having to make a decision on someone's life.

Now, Judge Hippler has released his decision--and the motion to dismiss the death penalty has been denied.

There has been a lot of change in this case over the last few months. Most recently, the change of judge and change of venue.

Kohberger's defense team argued that in a county as small as Latah (where Moscow, Idaho is located), it would be nearly impossible to find an impartial jury in the case. Their request for a move was granted and re-assigned to Ada County, Idaho's largest county, in the heart of downtown Boise by the State of Idaho Supreme Court.