Student murder suspect Brian Koberger appears in court Thursday, with his defense hoping to drop the death penalty before he goes to trial in the stabbings of four University of Idaho undergraduates.
The defense plans to call two expert witnesses to the hearing: forensic pathologist Dr. Barbara Wolfe and University of Idaho law professor Aliza Cover, who researches the death penalty and the Constitution.
Last month, Koberger's team launched a number of attacks on the possibility of capital punishment, challenging it as potentially cruel or unusual punishment and arguing that capital punishment violates “modern standards of decency.” and argued, among other things, that the newly reinstated firing squad in Idaho is unconstitutional. argument.
Brian Koberger defense calls in prominent experts who helped O.J. Simpson
Brian Koberger (left) listens to defense attorney Jay Logsdon (right) give oral argument on October 26, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (Kai Eiselein Pool/Getty Images)
“The defense appears to be laying the groundwork for an appeal,” said Matt Mangino, a former Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, district attorney and death penalty litigation expert. “Their latest arguments are aimed at the appellate court, not the trial court.”
That includes calling into question nearly all of the factors that aggravated the allegations and arguing that firing squads are unconstitutional. Mangino said he has had some successes, including dropping an aggravated robbery charge that prosecutors agreed to, but he faces an uphill battle.
Brian Koberger's attorney, Eyes Death Penalty Fine Print
“There has never been a method of execution that the Supreme Court has ever found unconstitutional,” he told Fox News Digital. “Whether someone is hanged, gassed, electrocuted or shot, the Supreme Court has never said that such methods or lethal injection are unconstitutional.”
Madison Morgen, top left, smiles on the shoulder of her best friend Kaylee Gonsalves and poses with Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodle and two other housemates, Gonsalves' last Instagram post. , which was shared the day before four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
Although Idaho only recently brought back firing squads as an option, he said it's a reliable method used both historically and in modern times.
“When the death penalty was suspended in the early 1970s and reinstated a few years later, the first executions in this country were by firing squad,” he said.
Brian Koberger is being held at the Ada County Sheriff's Office, according to online jail records. (Ada County Sheriff's Office)
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He also wrote about executions by firing squad in his book, The Executioner's Toll, 2010, which examined all executions in the United States that year.
He said he found one action by the defense legally interesting. To prevent the death penalty from being handed down arbitrarily, courts typically use a two-stage trial, known as a “binary trial,” in which death penalty cases have a guilt stage and a punishment stage.
Attorneys for Brian Koberger, from left, Ann Taylor, Elisa Massos, and Jay Logsdon leave the Rutter County Courthouse on June 27, 2023 in Moscow, Idaho. (Derek Schock, FOX News Digital)
“They're making an interesting argument that, for lack of a better term, we should split the process into three parts,” he told FOX News Digital.
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He said the defense is essentially proposing three stages: a guilt stage, a new stage to determine aggravating circumstances, and a penalty stage.
Brian Christopher Koberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, on January 3, 2023, to waive extradition to Idaho to face murder charges in the stabbings of four college students. (Fox News Digital Image Direct)
“That would just turn the whole process upside down, because the Supreme Court said, 'A two-part trial is a fair and less arbitrary way to do this,'” he said.
Under Idaho law, prosecutors had 60 days after Koberger's arraignment (May 22, 2023) to announce that they would seek the death penalty if they intended to convict him. .
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Investigators stand outside the home where four University of Idaho students were murdered in November 2022 in Moscow, Idaho, Nov. 1, 2023. (Derek Schock, FOX News Digital)
About a month later, they sent that notice, and in a court filing, the former criminology doctor claimed: Student: “I have demonstrated sexual fetish Committing a murder would likely pose a continuing threat to society. ”
Koberger allegedly attacked Madison Morgen, 21, Kaylee Gonsalves, 21, Zana Karnodol, 20, and Ethan Chapin in the 4 a.m. attack on Nov. 13, 2022. He has been charged with murdering a 20-year-old. All four were staying in a six-bedroom house just around the corner from the apartment. University of Idaho campus.
Two of the housemates survived the attack, one of whom told prosecutors that he heard someone crying and saw a masked man leave.
On November 14, 2022, police raided a home in Moscow, Idaho, where four University of Idaho students were murdered. (Derek Schock, FOX News Digital)
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Detectives found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Morgen's body, but prosecutors argued in court filings that the snap contained Koberger's DNA.
Koberger was studying for a Ph.D. in neighborhood criminology washington state universityless than 10 miles from the murder scene. He holds a master's degree in criminal justice from DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
The judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at the arraignment. His trial is scheduled to begin next year.
