West
Bryan Kohberger's fight against death penalty gets day in court; expert skeptical of defense's arguments
Student murder suspect Bryan Kohberger returnED to court Thursday, where his defense hopes to have the death penalty taken off the table before he goes to trial in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho undergrads.
The defense planned to call two expert witnesses at the hearing — forensic pathologist Dr. Barbara Wolf and University of Idaho law professor Aliza Cover, whose research has examined capital punishment and constitutional law.
Judge Steven Hippler denied both requests, siding with prosecutors who argued that their testimony would be irrelevant under Idaho law. The judge said he had also read an affidavit from Dr. Wolf and an article from Cover that largely summed up the testimony the defense expected.
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Bryan Kohberger, left, listens as defense attorney Jay Logsdon, right, presents oral arguments Oct. 26, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (Kai Eiselein-Pool/Getty Images)
Kohberger’s team filed a number of attacks on the possibility of capital punishment last month, challenging it as a potentially cruel or unusual punishment, arguing that it goes against “contemporary standards of decency” and asserting that Idaho’s newly revived firing squad is unconstitutional, among other arguments.
“It appears the defense is laying the groundwork for appeal,” said Matt Mangino, a former Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, district attorney and expert on capital punishment litigation. “Their most recent arguments are for an appellate court not a trial court.”
Those include taking issue with nearly all of the alleged aggravating factors and arguing that the firing squad is unconstitutional. While they’ve had some success, including dropping the aggravator for burglary that prosecutors agreed with, they face an uphill battle, Mangino said.
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“There has never been a method of execution determined by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional,” he told Fox News Digital. “Whether someone has been hanged or gassed or electrocuted or shot, the Supreme Court has never said that any method like that, and also lethal injection, is unconstitutional.”
Although Idaho only recently brought back the firing squad as an option, it’s a reliable method that has been used both historically and in modern times, he said.
“There was a pause in the death penalty in the early ’70s, and when the death penalty came back a few years later, the first execution in this country was by firing squad,” he said.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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He even wrote about a firing squad execution in his book, “The Executioner’s Toll, 2010,” which examined every execution carried out in the U.S. that year.
He did find one move by the defense legally interesting, he said. Courts commonly use two-step proceedings, known as “bifurcated trials,” with a guilt phase and a penalty phase for capital cases to prevent the death penalty from being handed down arbitrarily.
Bryan Kohberger is in the custody of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, according to online jail records. (Ada County Sheriff’s Office)
“They’re making an interesting argument that the process should be trifurcated, for lack of a better term,” he told Fox News Digital.
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The defense has essentially proposed three phases, he said — a guilty phase, a new phase to determine the aggravating circumstances and then the penalty phase.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger arrives at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, Pa., Jan. 3, 2023, before waiving extradition to Idaho to face murder charges in the stabbing deaths of four university students. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
“That would really sort of turn the whole process on its head, because the Supreme Court has said, ‘Hey, bifurcated trials are a fair, less arbitrary way to do this,’” he said.
Under Idaho law, prosecutors had 60 days after Kohberger’s arraignment May 22, 2023, to announce they would seek the death penalty upon conviction if they intended to do so.
Bryan Kohberger’s defense attorneys, from left, Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Jay Logsdon depart the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, June 27, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
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About a month later, they sent that notice, alleging in court filings that the former criminology Ph.D. student “has exhibited a propensity to commit murder, which will probably constitute a continuing threat to society.”
Investigators set up outside the home where four University of Idaho students were slain in November 2022 in Moscow, Idaho, Nov. 1, 2023. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Kohberger is accused of killing Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20, in a 4 a.m. attack Nov. 13, 2022. All four were staying in a six-bedroom home just steps from the University of Idaho campus.
Two housemates survived the attack, including one who told prosecutors she heard someone crying and saw a masked man leave.
Police search a home in Moscow, Idaho, Nov. 14, 2022, where four University of Idaho students were killed. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Detectives found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body, which prosecutors alleged in court filings had Kohberger’s DNA on the snap.
Kohberger was studying for a Ph.D. in criminology at neighboring Washington State University, less than 10 miles from site of the killings. He has a master’s degree in criminal justice from DeSales University in Pennsylvania.
A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf at the arraignment. His trial is expected to begin next year.
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A federal appeals court on Friday struck down California’s ban on openly carrying guns across most of the state.
In a 2–1 decision, the San Francisco-based Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled California’s ban on open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people — covering roughly 95% of the state’s population — violates the Second Amendment, according to Reuters.
U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, writing for the majority, said the ban conflicts with the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which requires gun regulations to be consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” Reuters reported.
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U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke appears in a video released by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals March 20, 2025. (9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals/Handout via Reuters)
“The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition,” VanDyke wrote. “It was clearly protected at the time of the founding and at the time of the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
VanDyke also noted that California previously allowed residents to openly carry holstered handguns for self-defense without penalty until 2012.
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A pistol is concealed in a belt. (iStock)
“That changed only when California enacted its urban open-carry ban barely over a decade ago in 2012,” he said. “In doing so, California joined a tiny minority of states to have adopted such severe restrictions on open carry.”
The decision overturned part of a 2023 ruling by a lower court that had dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2019 by gun owner Mark Baird, while rejecting his challenge to open-carry licensing in smaller counties, according to Reuters.
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A retail store in San Ramon, Calif., July 21, 2019. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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In October, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun groups said they were suing California over the state’s ban on Glock-style guns with features known as switches that allow them to be converted to fully automatic weapons.
The NRA was joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Weapons & Gear, and two NRA members in challenging the state’s ban.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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San Francisco, CA
Philadelphia Eagles to play San Francisco 49ers in NFL playoffs. Here’s what you need to know.
The Philadelphia Eagles will begin the playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round next weekend at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Birds (No. 3 seed) had a chance to earn the No. 2 seed with a win, but lost to the Washington Commanders in the regular season finale.
Here’s what you need to know about the matchup vs. the 49ers and more.
Which day will the Eagles and 49ers play?
The date and time of the wild-card round matchup between the Eagles and 49ers have yet to be announced, but playoff games are scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Two games will take place Saturday, three will happen Sunday and the final first-round matchup will be on Monday night.
Eagles and 49ers postseason history
The Eagles and 49ers have only met twice in postseason history, most recently in the NFC championship game in the 2022 season.
The Eagles won that game, 31-7, before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. In that game, the 49ers were decimated at quarterback as Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson suffered injuries.
After Johnson exited, Purdy returned to the game in the third quarter, but he was unable to throw the football beyond a few yards. The injuries to San Francisco’s quarterbacks led to the NFL approving a rule change that allows teams to play an emergency quarterback if the starter and backup are injured.
The Eagles are 1-1 vs. San Francisco all-time in the playoffs. Philadelphia’s loss to the 49ers in the playoffs happened in the wild-card round in 1996.
The title game in the 2022 season between the Eagles and 49ers started a rivalry that boiled over into 2023.
In 2023, the 49ers traveled to Lincoln Financial Field in Week 13 and dominated the Eagles, 42-19. The loss started the infamous collapse for the Eagles to end the season as the Birds lost six of the final seven games, including the playoff exit vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The loss to the Niners in the 2023 season also featured Eagles security chief Dom DiSandro and then-49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw being ejected from the game after a scuffle on the sideline.
The Eagles and 49ers haven’t played each other since the 2023 season.
How the Eagles and 49ers got here
The Eagles went 11-6 in the 2025 season and won the NFC East for the second consecutive year, which ended a 20-year stretch of the division not having a repeat winner.
The Niners had a chance to earn the No. 1 seed, but fell to the Seattle Seahawks Saturday night. The 49ers finished the year with a 12-5 record to earn the No. 6 seed.
DENVER — The Broncos have checked off their second goal of the season.
Denver officially clinched the AFC’s No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with Sunday’s 19-3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
As the top seed, the Broncos will receive a first-round bye in the 2025 playoffs and will host their first playoff game of the year in the Divisional Round on Saturday, Jan. 17 or Sunday, Jan. 18 at Empower Field at Mile High.
The Broncos, the lone team in the AFC to receive a first-round bye, will host the lowest remaining seed in the AFC playoff field in the Divisional Round. Denver’s possible opponents for its playoff opener include the Texans, Bills, Chargers and the yet-to-be-determined winner of the AFC North. If the Broncos earn a win in the Divisional Round, they would also host the AFC Championship Game.
Denver finished the 2025 regular season with a 14-3 mark, which is tied for the most regular-season wins in franchise history. The Broncos earned the No. 1 seed over the Patriots (14-3) due to a better record in games against common opponents.
The Broncos are the No. 1 seed in the AFC for the first time since 2015, when they went on to win Super Bowl 50. Denver has earned the No. 1 seed for an AFC-best ninth time, and two of the Broncos’ three Super Bowl titles have come after earning the No. 1 seed. The Broncos advanced to the Super Bowl in six of the eight previous seasons in which Denver earned the top seed in the conference.
Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton has now led teams to the No. 1 seed on three occasions in his career, and he is one of five coaches to lead two different organizations to a No. 1 seed.
Bo Nix, meanwhile, became the fourth quarterback in franchise history to lead the organization to a No. 1 seed — joining Ring of Famers John Elway, Peyton Manning and Craig Morton.
Learn more about playoff tickets and suites by visiting DenverBroncos.com/Tickets
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