Prosecutors cant use Bryan Kohbergers autism against him to argue for the death penalty: judge

Prosecutors won’t be allowed to use accused killer Bryan Kohberger’s autism to argue to a jury that he deserves the death penalty in the University of Idaho quadruple homicide case.Boise Judge Steven Hippler ruled Wednesday during a marathon hearing — where Kohberger’s lawyers argued to keep a slew of evidence out of his August trial — that prosecutors can’t use his diagnosis as an “aggravating factor” to argue he deserves capital punishment.Defense attorney Anne Taylor said that if Kohberger is convicted and the case moves to the death penalty phase of trial, she will ask a jury to consider the fact he is on the autism spectrum as a “mitigating factor” for why he shouldn’t receive be sentenced to death.She wants to tell the panelists about how many of Kohberger’s actions and mannerisms come from his disorder, like the fact that he often doesn’t show emotions on his face, he frequently stays very still for long stretches and can tend to ramble on.Prosecutor Jeff Nye said his team didn’t intend to use Kohberger’s autism to argue for the death penalty because they had plenty of other much stronger evidence to make their case.

But he also argued that the defense shouldn’t be able to use the diagnosis to argue for leniency either.“The state has no plan to use his autism as an aggravating factor,” Nye said.“We have a lot better aggravating arguments than that he has level-one autism.”Hippler said he’d eventually issue a more detailed order in writing.Lawyers on both sides fought tooth-and-nail at the Wednesday hearing as they geared up for the highly anticipated August 11 trial.

Many of the issues, including whether an expert can testify that Kohberger’s DNA was found on a knife sheath left at the scene, could have a major impact on how the trial shakes out.Kohberger lawyer Bicka Barlow claimed that a prosecution DNA expert witness shouldn’t be allowed to testify that she believes Kohberger’s DNA was left on a sheath foun...