Bryan Kohberger pleads guilty to murder of University of Idaho students
Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of fatally stabbing four Idaho college students in 2022, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the quadruple murder as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
At a courtroom in Boise, Idaho, Kohberger entered his guilty plea to all counts in the killings, agreed to four consecutive life sentences and waived his right to appeal. Judge Steven Hippler opted not to reject the plea agreement, which had divided the victims’ families.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho, on June 27, 2023.
Kohberger, 30, sat still and appeared unemotional when the court read the names of the victims. Hippler asked Kohberger if he had committed the murders “willfully, unlawfully, deliberately with premeditation and malice of forethought.”
“Yes,” he said.
The plea deal ensures Kohberger will avoid trial, which had been set to start in August, and is spared from the possibility of a death sentence for the murders of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death in their rental house near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger, who was studying criminal justice at the time at a nearby university, was arrested weeks after the murders in Pennsylvania, where his family lives.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 23.
Victim's family says plea deal isn't justice
The families of the four students were divided in their reactions to the plea agreement.
Ben Mogen, the father of Madison Mogen, told CBS News that he welcomed the deal because it allows his family to move on with their lives and avoid a trial in which they'd have to go over the entire case in detail.
“We can actually put this behind us and not have these future dates and future things ... that have to do with this terrible person,” he said. “We get to just think about the rest of lives and have to try and figure out how to do it without Maddie and the rest of the kids.”
The Goncalves family was outraged by the agreement and blasted it in several statements on social media, calling it an "insult" that "robbed us of our day in court." The family said prosecutors hurried the deal without input from the victims' families.
"After more than two years, this is how it concludes with a secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families on the plea’s details," the family said.
Kohberger's plea comes weeks before murder trial
Kohberger's trial was expected to begin with jury selection on Aug. 4 and opening statements on Aug. 18, according to a scheduling order by Judge Steven Hippler last week.
Prosecutors were to present DNA evidence, cellphone records and surveillance footage to tie Kohberger to the stabbings. DNA found on the sheath of a knife left by one of the victims' bodies was a statistical match to Kohberger, authorities previously said.
A police search warrant previously revealed Kohberger's phone was tracked near the students' house at least 12 times in the six months before the attack.
Neighborhood security camera videos also helped police identify a car they said was owned by Kohberger. The car was seen on video at least four times in the early morning hours the day of the killings before speeding off, earlier court filings said. Kohberger's defense has previously claimed he was driving alone and not present at the victims' homes.
Contributing: Reuters
