Bryan Kohberger Defense Argues Autism Diagnosis Should Take Death Penalty Off the Table

Judge Steven Hippler, overseeing the case in which Bryan Kohberger is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students, has issued a warning to defense attorneys and prosecutors on the case against the excessive filing of sealed documents. “This runs counter to the public’s First Amendment rights to know what is going on in its courts,” Hippler said, per Associated Press. One recently unsealed document, for example, revealed Kohberger’s request to remove the death penalty as an option during potential sentencing, citing his autism diagnosis as the reason.

“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 risk that he will be wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death,” the unsealed document, originally filed on Feb. 24, reads. “In making this motion, Mr. Kohberger relies on his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.”

The 28-page document notes that “amongst the entire class of murderers, the death penalty must be reserved for ‘the worst of the worst,’” and Kohberger should therefore be exempt from consideration for such a punishment because he possesses a “particular characteristic” that “renders him less culpable, negates the retributive and deterrent aims of capital punishment, or creates a risk of an erroneous death sentence.”

The defense argues that “executing people with ASD does not meaningfully satisfy the penological aims of retribution or deterrence. Accordingly, sentencing people with ASD to death violates the Eighth Amendment.” It also cites a “comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation” that found Kohberger to “exhibit all the core diagnostic features of ASD currently, with significant impact on his daily life,” including compulsions, diminished social understanding, and language deficits. The filing includes expressed concern about how a jury will perceive Kohberger because of this.

Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 as the sole suspect in the stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four University of Idaho students were killed in their off-campus apartment on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger was a graduate student at Washington State University at the time of the murders and was linked to the crime through DNA found on a knife sheath. In May 2023, he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of murder. The judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf after he chose to “stand silent” rather than enter a plea.