Idaho Victim's Families Will Have Say on Death Penalty

Families of the four University of Idaho students killed in November will have some input on whether prosecutors seek the death penalty for the accused, Bryan Kohberger, according to a report.

Kohberger, 28, is accused of breaking into a rental home near the university campus and fatally stabbing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13 last year.

At the time, Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at nearby Washington State University in Pullman. He was arrested at his parents' home in Pennsylvania on December 30.

He "stood silent" in court as four counts of first-degree murder and burglary charges were announced at his arraignment last month, prompting the judge to enter not guilty pleas on his behalf.

The judge scheduled Kohberger's trial to begin on October 2. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson has until around the middle of July to inform the court whether he will seek the death penalty in the case.

According to NewsNation, prosecutors are consulting the victims' families about seeking the death penalty in Kohberger's case.

Former FBI Jennifer Coffindaffer said that is "very common" in a case like this.

"They should have some input and they will have input," she said on NewsNation. "But the bottom line is this prosecutor will make his own decision on whether they seek the death penalty."

The parents of the victims appear to be divided on whether or not to seek the death penalty.

The families of Goncalves and Mogen reportedly support seeking the death penalty, while Kernodle's mother has said that she is against it.

It comes after Kohberger's attorney said in a new court filing that no DNA belonging to any of the victims was found in the suspect's home or vehicle.

"There is no connection between Mr. Kohberger and the victims," Jay Weston Logsdon, an attorney with the Kootenai County Public Defender's office, wrote in the recent filing. "There is no explanation for the total lack of DNA evidence from the victims in Mr. Kohberger's apartment, office, home, or vehicle."

The revelation came in the defense team's filing objection to a motion by prosecutors that requested a protective order to prevent the disclosure of information related to the use of investigative genetic genealogy in the case.

Prosecutors said in their filing that investigators used the technique to hone in on Kohberger as the suspect and that his DNA is a "statistical match" to that which was on a knife sheath found at the crime scene.