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Why Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty. Inside his sentencing details
Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to murdering four Idaho college students in 2022, avoiding the death penalty. He will serve four consecutive life sentences.
Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing four college students in 2022. Kohberger, a 30-year-old former PhD student in criminology, was set for death penalty after being charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. With the plea deal, he will no longer face death penalty and will serve four consecutive life sentences, instead.
At the court session attended by the victims' family members, Kohberger, seated at the dock wearing a beige shirt and a printed tie, pleaded guilty to all the charges with chilling one-word responses. When asked by Judge Steven Hippler if he “willfully unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice aforethought” committed the murder of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, Kohberger responded, "yes."
He will now face 10 years for burglary, and four life sentences for each of the four counts of first-degree homicides. His sentencing is set for July 23.
Kohberger's plea deal on Wednesday was a stunning change of legal position of the defense as the 30-year-old, thus far, had always pleaded not guilty. Prior to accepting the plea deal, Kohberger's prosecutors had announced their intent to pursue death penalty for him. In between, the case was moved from Moscow, where the bodies of the victims were found, to Boise, to allow for a jury selection from a larger pool. The jury selection for the trial was set for July 30 and the trial itself was set for August 11.
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Prosecutors Reveal Additional Details To Cover Up Killings
At Wednesday's hearing, prosecutor Bill Thompson revealed additional details about how Kohberger tried to cover up the killings. He noted that when Kohberger’s apartment was searched by the police, it had been scrubbed clean, while his car had been “pretty much disassembled internally” and its registration was changed to Washington State. Thomspon argued that Kohberger's years of studying murder reflected in the efforts at cover up.
“The defendant has studied crime,” Thompson said. “In fact, he did a detailed paper on crime scene processing when he was working on his Ph.D., and he had that knowledge skillset.”
