Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminal justice doctoral student, is facing four counts of murder in the November 13th stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. If convicted, he could face a firing squad as a legal form of execution in Idaho.
GOP state lawmaker Rep. Bruce Skaug recently introduced a bill that would bring back the firing squad as a legal form of execution in Idaho. This bill comes after state officials had to cancel a scheduled execution in November due to the inability to find lethal injection chemicals. The bill states that if lethal injection is not available no more than five days after the issuance of a death warrant, a firing squad would be used.
Kohberger is accused of stalking the victims for weeks before the murders, and a variety of DNA evidence has linked him to the crime scene. He is expected to enter a plea on June 26th, and Latah County will probably have until the end of July to announce its intention to pursue the death penalty.
Friends of Kohberger have described him as a one-time obese, heroin-addicted bully, who wanted desperately to be a cop. He eventually lost half his body weight, however, he developed an eating disorder that left him hospitalized. Despite this, his friends never suspected he would be accused of the quadruple slaying.
Death by firing squad was legal in Idaho from 1982 to 2009, when it was banned. Skaug believes firing squads are more humane because they cannot be botched. Other states, such as Utah, have brought back firing squads due to difficulty in obtaining lethal injection chemicals.
The Idaho Legislature passed a bill last year that provides anonymity to companies or pharmacies that provide lethal-injection chemicals in the hopes that it would spur more companies to provide them. However, the state still had to cancel the scheduled execution of Gerald Pizzuto Jr. in November due to the lack of availability of the chemicals.
Kohberger remains in custody in Idaho, awaiting his trial and the possible use of a firing squad as a legal form of execution. The bill proposed by Skaug will likely be debated in the coming weeks and months, depending on the outcome of Kohberger’s trial.
