Allegations that University of Idaho murder accused Brian Kochberger could be shot if the convict needed context

Brian Kochberger is charged with the murder of four University of Idaho students last year in a case that received nationwide attention.

Some recent headlines it is speculated that if convicted, Kochberger could be shot, a method that has all but disappeared as lethal injection became the most common form of execution.

But is a firing squad a legal option for executions in Idaho?

Can Brian Kochberger be shot if found guilty of murder?

Lethal injection is currently the only legal form of execution in Idaho. However, a bill currently being considered in the Idaho legislature would allow shootings if the state can’t get the drugs it needs to inject.

Prosecutors have also not yet announced whether they intend to seek the death penalty in the Kochberger case.

Brian Kochberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of University of Idaho students Kaley Gonsalves, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Xana Kernodle.

His trial will not begin for several more months, and the date for the next hearing is set for June 26.

Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek the death penalty in his case.

If they do, and Kochberger ends up convicted and given the death penalty, under current Idaho law, he will be executed by lethal injection.

Recently, however, the state of Idaho has experienced difficulty obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injection, as a result of which the planned execution was cancelled. As a result, one MP proposed a bill to expand the legal scope for enforcement.

House Bill 186, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug (R-Nampa), would amend Idaho law to allow the state to execute death row inmates by firing squad if lethal injection is not available. The Director of the Idaho Department of Corrections will determine the specific procedures used in such an execution, as is currently done for lethal injection.

The bill as it is currently written, if passed, would come into force on July 1, 2023, and “will apply to all executions carried out from the date of entry into force of this law and after it, regardless of the date [the] punished.”

There are currently eight inmates on death row in Idaho who were sentenced back in 1983.

The bill was approved by the committee, but still needs approval from the House of Representatives, the Senate and the governor.

So it is quite possible that Kochberger is in danger of being shot. However, it will first require a conviction, a death sentence, the passage of a new state law, and the state’s inability to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injection during an execution that could be years away.

Firing squads are currently only legal in four states, and only three people have been shot since 1976, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. All three executions took place in Utah.

Since 1976, when the US Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, only three people have been executed in Idaho, most recently in 2012, all by lethal injection.