Brian Kochberger will appear in court to ask that his death sentence be overturned

Brian Kochberger and his lawyers scored an early victory in an Ada County courtroom Thursday when a judge ruled that he will be allowed to appear in street clothes at pretrial hearings.

Kochberger wore a blue shirt and suit for the second part of Thursday’s hearing, which was open to the media. This hearing focused on petitions related to the death penalty. Kochberger faces the death penalty if convicted of killing four University of Idaho students.

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in November 2022.

Kochberger’s murder trial isn’t scheduled to begin until Aug. 11, 2025, but his lawyers are already focused on the possible punishment. Prosecutors filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in June 2023. Since then, Kochberger’s lawyers have filed several motions trying to get the matter dropped.
Defense attorney Ann Taylor told Judge Stephen Hippler that Idaho is currently incapable of executing death row inmates and said keeping a man on death row without the ability to execute him is inhumane.

Hipler disagreed with that argument, saying Idaho has legal means including lethal injection and firing squad. Judge Hippler also noted that even if Kochberger is sentenced to death, it will be more than a decade before any execution is carried out.

The State argued that the defense’s arguments were too vague and should not be accepted. “They haven’t even suggested what a suitable alternative might be, and we don’t even know what the alternatives will be decades from now.”

Hippler said the court will take those arguments into account and make a decision later.
The defense then asked the judge to allow Professor Alize Cover, whose research focuses on the death penalty and constitutional law, to testify.

“I do not believe that the testimony will be relevant or helpful to the court in deciding this issue,” Hippler ultimately said.

Kochberger’s defense has argued several other motions to overturn the death penalty, citing arbitrariness, arguing that Idaho’s aggravated circumstances law is vague and violates the defendant’s Eighth Amendment rights.

The defense also cited potential juries as a problem. “This gets to the point of why we’re arguing about all of this right now—there’s a huge difference between the selection of a death penalty jury and a non-death penalty qualified jury,” the defense argued. “Juries eligible for the death penalty are highly likely to convict at the guilt-innocence stage, and we are very concerned about that.”

Taylor argued that if Kochberger were to stand trial in early October 2023 in Latah County, he would have to waive his right to a fair and impartial jury and an effective defense. Kochberger’s trial was moved from Lata to Ada County after the defense raised concerns about the ability to select an impartial jury.
The defense argued that this is a conflict of constitutional rights, specifically forcing Kochberger to choose between effective assistance of counsel and a speedy trial. In Idaho, a case must go to trial within approximately six months of the arraignment unless the defendant waives his or her right to a speedy trial. However, the defense argues that it is impossible to properly carry out the legal process in a death penalty case so quickly.

Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye said, “The real problem the defense faces is that they didn’t have to waive his constitutional right, but they did.”

This story was originally published Court television.