OAN’s Noah Herring
5:22 PM – Monday, June 26, 2023
Prosecutors in Idaho announced on Monday that they will seek the death penalty for Bryan Kohberger for murdering four University of Ohio students last November.
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Kohberger, 28, was charged with felony burglary and four counts of first-degree murder over the killings of Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 20.
“The State gives this notice based on the fact that it has not identified or been provided with any mitigating circumstances sufficient to prohibit the triers of fact from considering all penalities authorized by the Idaho legislature including the possibility of a capital sentence,” prosecutors wrote in a Monday court filing.
“Consequently, considering all evidence currently known to the State, the State is compelled to file this notice of intent to seek the death penalty.”
The Latah County Prosecutor’s Office filed the notice to seek the death penalty on Monday as the filing is required within 6 days of a defendant entering their plea.
The “aggravating circumstances” in the case led prosecuting attorney Bill Thompson to wonder if the specifics of the case could warrant the death penalty.
“The murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity,” Thompson wrote.
Thompson, a former criminology student, was silent when he was indicted in May after pleading not guilty.
The students had been stabbed multiple times inside the girls’ rented home sometime around 3 a.m. to 4 a.m., according to police. A knife sheath was found left on one of the victims beds, which had Kohber’s DNA on it and what served as incriminating evidence.
Kristi Goncalves, Kaylee Goncalves’ mother, said that she hopes Kohberger will “be put to death like an animal, like he is.”
A hearing for the defense’s motion to compel discovery evidence is scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Kohberger’s trial is scheduled to begin October 2nd.
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