Idaho College Murders: Prosecutors Make Major Decision on Death Penalty, Say Bryan Kohberger Had ‘Utter Disregard For Human Life’

Prosecutors have announced they will be seeking the death penalty against Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of stabbing four college students to death in Idaho last fall, according to authorities.

On June 26, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson filed the notice of his intent to seek the death penalty against Kohberger, according to the AP.

As Front Page Detectives previously reported, 28-year-old Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University when police believe he broke into a home in Moscow, Idaho, and stabbed four students to death: Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle's boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.

Kohberger had his arraignment on May 22 and declined to enter a plea to the charges and stood silent, so the judge in the case was forced to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf, Front Page Detectives reported.

Idaho law requires prosecutors to notify the court of their intent to seek the death penalty within 60 days of a plea being entered, so 60 days from May 22, as Front Page Detectives reported.

In the notice of intent, Thompson listed five “aggravating circumstances” that he said could qualify for the crime of capital punishment under state law, according to the AP.

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Those circumstances include that more than one murder was committed during the crime, that it was especially heinous or showed exceptional depravity, that it was committed in the perpetration of a burglary or other crime and that the defendant showed “utter disregard for human life.”

The next hearing in Kohberger’s criminal case is scheduled for June 27.