Bryan Kohberger seeks to withdraw guilty plea in Idaho murder case

Bryan Kohberger asked to reopen the Idaho murder case from prison, saying he wants to withdraw the guilty plea that spared him the death penalty and ended the prospect of a trial scheduled for August 2025. He said his "actual innocence is my truth" and that the plea was "hinged on false promises and blatant disinformation."

The plea was entered in Ada County court records on July 2, 2025, covering all counts in the killings of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. The deaths occurred in November 2022 at an off-campus rental house in Moscow, Idaho. Judge Stephen Hippler set sentencing for July 23, 2025, and later imposed four life sentences without the possibility of parole after Kohberger declined to speak at the hearing.

A guilty plea is difficult to undo after sentence is imposed. He cannot simply argue that he changed his mind after accepting a deal that avoided a capital trial. To reopen the case, he would have to persuade a court that the plea was legally defective in a way serious enough to amount to manifest injustice, not just that he regrets the bargain or thinks a better outcome was possible. He would have to back his claims of false promises and wrong information with evidence showing the plea was not entered knowingly and voluntarily.

Kaylee Goncalves’ father said the outcome did not feel like justice after prosecutors abandoned their push for the death penalty.

Later filings in 2025 listed Amanda Kohberger, Bryan Kohberger’s sister, as a potential witness days before the plea agreement.