Bryan Kohberger will admit to the vicious killings of four University of Idaho undergrads in 2022 as part of a shocking plea deal he accepted just weeks before the highly anticipated trial was set to begin.
Kohberger, a PhD criminology student who had previously claimed he was totally innocent of the quadruple homicide that shocked the nation, will avoid the death penalty in exchange to pleading guilty to the slayings, according to the Idaho Statesman, citing a letter sent to the victims’ families.
He’ll also waive his right to an appeal.
“This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals,” read the letter obtained by the Statesman.
The deal is a stunning twist in a hard-fought case in which prosecutors accused Kohberger of sneaking into a rental home in nearby Moscow, Idaho, and fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
And for Goncalves’ family, the deal is a stab in the back.
On their Facebook page, the family said they were “beyond furious” that Kohberger will get to live.
“The introduction of this plea deal, just weeks before the scheduled trial, is both shocking and cruel,” Kaylee’s younger sister Aubrie posted in her own scathing message.
“Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world. Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever,” she wrote.
The deal would save Kohberger from a potential death by firing squad after Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a new law bringing back the antiquated execution method.
Lawyers for Kohberger, a clean-cut doctoral student at the nearby University of Washington during the time of the attacks, had earlier argued that he was nowhere near the murder scene in November 2022.
But prosecutors recently revealed they obtained evidence that Kohberger, in the months before the killings, purchased a knife and knife sheath online, CBS News reported.
And Kohberger reportedly left DNA on a knife sheath found at the crime scene, according to a police affidavit.
Kohberger accepted his plea deal on the heels of a pair of major setbacks suffered by his defense team.
His lawyers had pushed for delays to the trial and sought to keep the most damning evidence out of the courtroom, including surveillance video tape and DNA collected at the crime scene.
Kohberger’s attorneys also floated the idea of possible “alternate perpetrators,” but Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler rejected their request to present those theories and ruled that the trial would move forward in August.
Just before the plea deal announcement, Hippler ruled that three witnesses for the defense would have to travel to Idaho from out of state to testify.
Those witnesses, including a boxing coach and a childhood acquaintance, claimed to have only a distant connection to Kohberger.
Only two housemates survived the slaughter. One told investigators she saw a man in a black mask and “bushy eyebrows” leaving through the back door.
