Lead attorney for Bryan Kohberger advocates against expansion of Idaho’s death penalty

The lead attorney for Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with murdering four University of Idaho students, urged state lawmakers to oppose a bill that proposed expanding the defendants who would qualify for the death penalty.

Anne Taylor, chief of the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office, appeared before an Idaho Senate committee last week to argue that the state was not in a position to shoulder an increase in its number of capital punishment-eligible criminal cases. Taylor, who has led her office since 2017, was assigned to the Kohberger case after his arrest in December 2022.

The proposed law Taylor testified against sought to make certain sex crimes against children under the age of 12 punishable by death — a possible sentence ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, already passed in the House before it came up for a Senate committee hearing Friday.

Taylor provided her remarks virtually during the bill’s hearing at the Capitol.

“These are not cases that are quick to be resolved,” Taylor told the Senate panel. “If it remains a death penalty case, it can take years to get to trial and get to a sentencing phase in that case. … Idaho is not staffed or prepared for this.”

Taylor is one of 13 public defenders statewide who are qualified to lead a death penalty defense. She is the only one of those attorneys in all of North Idaho, and her Kohberger case co-counsel, Jay Logsdon, who is her office’s chief deputy, is the only death penalty-qualified co-counsel for the same region.

Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing the four U of I students to death at an off-campus Moscow home in November 2022. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20.

Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson announced last year that he plans to seek the death penalty for Kohberger if he is convicted by a jury. Prosecutors have 60 days from the point a plea is entered to issue their notice of intent on whether they will pursue capital punishment.

Up until then, the state requires that a defendant who cannot afford an attorney be provided with a death penalty-qualified public defender within 14 days of being charged with a capital punishment-eligible crime, Taylor said. In Idaho, the only charge that can result in a death sentence is first-degree murder.

“When somebody’s charged with a crime where the death penalty could be imposed — whether it will be asked for or not by the prosecutor — the accused is entitled to representation from a capital-qualified team,” Taylor said. “That happens long before a prosecutor makes a determination of whether death will actually be sought or not, but that team has to be in place that early.”

If the jury convicts Kohberger, jurors must unanimously find at least one aggravating factor to sentence him to death, which could include that more than one murder occurred in the incident and/or the murders were committed in the midst of another crime. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

Bill failed to advance after testimony

Taylor, an Idaho native and alum of the U of I law school, drew scrutiny last year after the Idaho Statesman reported that she was actively representing a parent to one of the student victims when she was appointed to represent Kohberger.

Taylor quickly conflicted out of representing that victim’s family member and argued any potential ethical issues were resolved during a closed-door court hearing held on the matter a month after she was assigned to Kohberger’s case. At that hearing, Kohberger endorsed keeping Taylor on as his lead public defender.

Following testimony last week from Taylor and four other state public defenders, the Republican-heavy Senate committee voted the bill down, stopping its advance to a full Senate vote. Florida adopted a similar law last year and it could face potential legal challenges over its constitutionality based on decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

Skaug, a former Ada County deputy prosecutor, told the Statesman in a text message that he would consider amending the bill and trying to pass it again next legislative session.

By April 17, Kohberger must file his alibi defense if his attorneys plan to argue such a defense. The attorneys must also file their legal briefs by that same time asking for a change of venue for trial outside of Latah County. A trial date has yet to be set.

Kohberger is next scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on the change of venue request on May 14.