The judge overseeing Bryan Kohberger’s murder case did pent-up the death penalty will remain on the table as the case moves forward, rejecting a request from Kohberger’s defense attorneys.

In June 2023, prosecutors announced plans to seek the death penalty against the former Ph.D. student accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students — Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — in November 2022.

In September of this year, Kohberger’s lawyers made a major play to eliminate the death penalty, arguing — in hundreds of pages of court filings — that Kohberger’s life should not be on the line because, among other things , the death penalty would violate his constitutional rights as well as contemporary standards of decency.

However, in a lengthy filing Wednesday, Judge Steven Hippler ruled against all twelve of Kohberger’s motions challenging various aspects of Idaho’s capital punishment scheme.

In his 55-page decision, Judge Hippler “concludes relief in (of Kohberger) favor is not warranted for either motion.”

Among other things, defense attorneys argued that the death penalty is inconsistent with current social mores. However, the judge ruled that “there is no basis to depart from the settled law that upholds Idaho’s death penalty statute as constitutional” and remains “consistent with contemporary standards of decency.”

Defense lawyers also argued that the death penalty should be imposed in the case based on the methods of execution — specifically, citing the shortage of lethal injection drugs and arguing that the firing squad executions that, last year, became legal in Idaho are “cruel and unusual. .” And, they argue, letting one’s client wait on death row without knowing “how he will be executed” is itself an “unconstitutional” form of torture.

But the judge again disagreed – siding with prosecutors that that argument is “not ready” for discussion because Kohberger has not yet been convicted. And, the judge continued, even if we were to address it now, both the firing squad and lethal injection have been held constitutional and are permitted in the state.

The judge also ruled against every attempt by the defense to strike aggravating factors that prosecutors found made Kohberger eligible for the death penalty.

Kohberger was arrested following a six-week manhunt in December 2022.

A criminology student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murder, Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

The trial is scheduled for August 2025.