Brian Kochberger faces the death penalty if convicted of Idaho College murder, judge rules

Nov. 20 (UPI)— Idaho murder suspect Brian Kochberger could face the death penalty if convicted of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, a judge has ruled.

Ada County Judge Stephen Hippler denied 12 defense motions Tuesday. 55 page resolution after Kochberger’s defense team attempted to have the death penalty removed from his sentence if convicted.

Kochberger’s lawyers argued that the time spent on death row and the choice of execution method, including lethal injection or firing squad, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Defense attorneys also said Idaho’s death penalty laws violate an international treaty prohibiting torture of prisoners.

“There is no basis to depart from the settled law affirming Idaho’s death penalty statute as constitutional,” Hippler wrote in his ruling. This “conforms to modern standards of decency.”

Kochberger, 29, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of burglary in the deaths of Kaylee Gonclaves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan, 20. Chapin.

All four students were killed in an off-campus home on November 13, 2022. The two other women in the house were not injured.

Kochberger was arrested in Pennsylvania after a six-week manhunt and was extradited back to Idaho in January 2023. Six months later, prosecutors announced plans to seek the death penalty.

Kochberger, a former criminology student at Washington State University, did not respond last year when asked to testify in the case. The judge declared him not guilty.

Kochberger’s trial will begin in August 2025.

The Gonclaves, whose daughter Kaylee was one of the four students killed, released a statement Wednesday responding to a judge’s ruling that left the death penalty option open if convicted.

“When we learned today that the petitions to challenge the death penalty were denied, we were overjoyed – not only for our family, but also for our friends, supporters and everyone who shed a tear, made a donation or listened to the story of these beautiful children who were so senselessly taken from us,” Christy and Steve Gonclaves. told NonStop Local.

“Justice is moving forward and we pray that one day in the not too distant future it will be served.”