Bryan Kohberger and his attorneys scored an early victory in an Ada County courtroom Thursday when the judge ruled he would be allowed to appear at pretrial hearings in street clothes.

During the second part of Thursday’s media hearing, Kohberger wore a blue shirt and suit. That hearing focused on motions regarding the death penalty. Kohberger faces a possible death penalty if convicted of killing four University of Idaho students.

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death at their off-campus home in November 2022.

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Kohberger’s murder trial is not scheduled to begin until Aug. 11, 2025, but his attorneys are already focused on possible sentencing. Prosecutors filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in June 2023. Since then, Kohberger’s attorneys have made several requests to take that sentence off the table.

Defense attorney Ann Taylor argued to Judge Steven Hippler that Idaho does not currently have the capacity to execute death row inmates, saying it is dehumanizing to keep a person on death row without a way to execute them.

Hippler countered that claim, saying Idaho has legal remedies, including lethal injection and firing squad. Judge Hippler also noted that even if Kohberger were sentenced to death, it would take more than a decade for any execution to occur.

The State argued that the defense’s arguments were too vague and should not be accepted. “They haven’t even suggested what a viable alternative would be, and we don’t even know what alternatives will be decades from now.”

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Hippler said the court will consider these arguments and make a decision later.

The defense then asked the judge to allow testimony from Professor Aliza Cover, whose research examines capital punishment and constitutional law.

Ultimately, Hippler said, “I do not think the testimony will be relevant or helpful for the court to decide this matter.”

Kohberger’s defense argued several other motions to impose the death penalty, citing arbitrariness grounds, that Idaho’s law on aggravating clauses is vague, and that the defendant’s Eighth Amendment rights were violated.

The defense also cited the potential jury as a problem. “This gets to the point of why we’re discussing all of this right now; there’s a big difference between picking a jury that’s entitled to death and one that’s not entitled to capital,” the defense said. “The likelihood of capital jury trials convicting at the guilt-innocence stage is quite high, and we are very concerned about that.”

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Taylor argued that if Kohberger goes to trial in Latah County on the first October 2023 date, he will have to give up his right to a fair and impartial jury and effective counsel. Kohberger’s trial was moved from Latah to Ada County after the defense raised concerns about being able to select an impartial jury.

The defense argued that this was a conflict of constitutional rights, specifically that Kohberger had to choose between effective assistance of counsel and a speedy trial. In Idaho, the case must go to trial within approximately six months from the issuance of the indictment, unless the defendant waives his right to a speedy trial. However, the defense argues that it is not possible for the legal process in a death penalty case to be carried out properly so quickly.

Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye argued: “The real issue the defense is dealing with here is that they didn’t have to waive their constitutional right, but they did.”

This story was first published by . Court television.