The man who pleaded guilty last year to the notorious murders of four Idaho college students has filed a petition to withdraw his guilty plea. Bryan Kohberger is challenging his murder conviction and four life sentences with the Ada County District Court. According to the docket, he has no representation.
Petition to Withdraw
In the petition filed on Monday, Kohberger claims that he pleaded guilty because he was made to believe “false promises and blatant disinformation” and was offered bad legal advice. He said that he had “ineffective assistance of counsel during criminal proceedings” and was “convinced to falsely confess.”
He alleges that his attorneys told him to give a “false plea.” With his petition to enter a not guilty plea, he has acknowledged his inherent offer that prosecutors may seek the death penalty if his petition were to be granted and he receives a new trial.
Idaho College Murders
On November 13, 2022, four college students were found fatally stabbed at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho. Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle returned from an on-campus party in the early hours around 1:45 a.m.
Investigators believed the murders took place between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., with everyone in the home, including two other surviving roommates–Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke. The pair was aware something sinister was going on, but they locked themselves in Funke’s room, trying to contact their other roommates.
They were unaware that when Mortensen walked past Kernodle’s room that morning, she was not intoxicated lying down, but dead. It was not until other friends arrived at the home later that morning and found that their roommates were dead that they called the police.
Investigators gathered DNA from a knife sheath that was found at the crime scene and found it to be a “statistical match” to Kohberger. The convicted murderer’s phone also pinged near the victims’ home at least 12 times prior to the murders, the majority being late at night or in the early morning.
Families Disagree With Petition
The families of the victims are rightfully upset with this new development in Kohberger’s case. Goncalves’ family made a statement Monday that the defendant made his bed, and “chose not to leave his fate — or the facts of the case — to a jury.”
“He never cried foul, never claimed he was uninformed or pressured, and never suggested there were problems with the discovery materials he and his counsel had reviewed for two years that should have been challenged,” the family said.
“We would have preferred a death-penalty trial; we believe fully in the evidence,” the statement continued. “Instead, [Kohberger] received exactly what he asked for: a deal that spared his life. Know this — he hates that life. He wants another chance to roll the dice.“
The family said that if Kohberger is granted a hearing, then it will be a “welcome break from solitary confinement: a ride, perhaps different food, photos taken, and the spotlight once again fixed on him and his supposed ‘innocence.’”
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador expressed sympathy for the victims’ families in a statement on Monday. “My heart goes out to the families of Madison, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan, who have already endured unimaginable loss and now must face today’s deeply painful news. My office stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out.”
Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty
Weeks before trial was scheduled to begin on July 2, 2025, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary, accepting four life sentences, in exchange for his plea deal that removed the death penalty from the table.
Kohberger was a criminology doctoral student at Washington State University when the murders occurred, and after being sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and 10 additional years for burglary, he did not address the court. His motive for the killings remains unknown, and the prime target remains unknown, according to officials.
