“I WAS ADVISED TO LIE TO AVOID THE DEATH SENTENCE”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, AUTHORITIES SAY BRYAN KOHBERGER IS FIGHTING TO WITHDRAW HIS GUILTY PLEA FOR MURDERING FOUR IDAHO STUDENTS… AND HE HAS BEEN GRANTED A NEW COURT HEARING.
Bryan Kohberger has been granted a new hearing date.
The decision follows his formal filing to withdraw his guilty plea.
That plea was entered for the murders of four Idaho college students.
The victims were Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.
Kohberger is 31 years old.
In November 2022, the killings took place in Moscow, Idaho.
The four college students were brutally murdered.
They were attacked at an off-campus apartment.
Madison Mogen was 21 years old.
Kaylee Goncalves was 21 years old.
Xana Kernodle was 20 years old.
Ethan Chapin was 20 years old.
But Kohberger previously pleaded guilty to the November 2022 killings.
In July 2025, he accepted a plea deal.
That agreement came shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin.
Under the terms of the deal, Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life terms behind bars.
As part of that agreement, he also waived his right to appeal.
Yet one year after pleading guilty, Kohberger filed to withdraw his plea.
In July, he filed for post-conviction relief in Ada County District Court, according to the Daily Mail.
If the petition is successful, Kohberger will be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.
If that happens, the case will go to trial.
Then the family of Kaylee Goncalves responded publicly to the move.
After Kohberger’s filing was revealed, Goncalves’ family issued a statement slamming him for the decision.
“The mosquito you just can’t seem to swat’ — that is what Kohberger and his following have become to this family,” Goncalves’ family began in the statement.
The family also addressed the news coverage surrounding his petition.
The family went on to say that the article announcing his plea withdrawal “had little else to offer beyond a guilty man once again claiming he is innocent.”
They challenged his effort to overturn his admission.
They argued that “nowhere in the story — or in Kohberger’s own statement — does he not acknowledge that he ‘knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently’ admitted to murdering the four victims of this tragedy: Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan.”
The family pointed back to his prior appearance before the court.
“He appeared in court for a hearing before a judge, accompanied by his four lawyers,” the family continued.
“He 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.”
“He admitted his guilt.”
“When asked whether he was actually guilty, he answered, ‘Yes.’”
The family concluded by addressing the attention given to the legal fight.
The statement concluded with the family saying that the “real tragedy” of the situation is that “if even a fraction of the energy spent trying to free a guilty man were directed toward honoring the victims, there would be statues of them on every corner, parks bearing their names, and days set aside to remember the lives they lost at the hands of a narcissist.”
Kohberger claims he only entered the plea because of advice from his lawyers.
As Us previously reported, he claimed that he only accepted the plea deal because he was “advised” to “lie” by his legal counsel at the time in order to avoid the death sentence.
He also addressed the petition directly in a written statement.
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” he wrote in a statement to the New York Times regarding the petition.
The defendant now has new legal representation.
Judge Steven Hippler said Kohberger will be represented by his newly appointed defense attorney, Richard Rauch.
For now, Kohberger remains sentenced to four consecutive life terms behind bars.
He previously waived his right to appeal.
Judge Hippler said that Kohberger will have a status conference next year.
Hippler said the defendant will also have an evidentiary hearing next year.
In June 2027, Kohberger is expected to return to court.
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