Reports: University of Idaho quadruple homicide suspect Bryan Kohberger expected to plead guilty on all charges, leaving one victim's family 'beyond furious'
Multiple media outlets reported Monday that 30-year-old Bryan Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the deaths of UI seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. All four were stabbed to death at a rental home in Moscow.
The broadcast corporations and local news outlets like the Idaho Statesman and KTVB cited a letter sent to families of the victims this week stating Kohberger intends to accept a plea agreement that does away with his right to an appeal and comes with a sentence of four consecutive life sentences for the murder charges, and an additional 10 years for burglary — the maximum allotted under state law. The plea deal allows Kohberger to avoid a trial that could have ended with a death sentence if found guilty.
The letter prefaced Kohberger's change of plea by a few days, which is expected to happen at an 11 a.m. hearing Wednesday.
The Goncalves family confirmed the letter and Kohberger's intent to plead guilty in a Facebook post Monday afternoon. The Spokesman-Review was unable to reach Kristi Goncalves, mother to Kaylee, or Maddie's father, Ben Mogen, ahead of publication.
"We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho," the post reads. "They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected. We appreciate all your love and support."
Kohberger's attorneys approached the Latah County Prosecutor's Office earlier this month about a plea deal , ABC News reported. After meeting with family members who were available last week, the office made a formal offer to Kohberger.
Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson called the agreement their "sincere attempt to seek justice" in the letter distributed to family members, according to a copy obtained by the Idaho Statesman.
"We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family," Thompson wrote in the letter. "This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family. 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."
When reached by The Spokesman-Review Monday afternoon, Idaho State Supreme Court spokesperson Nate Poppino said, "I do not have any information I can confirm this evening."
Kohberger, who is originally from Pennsylvania, declined to enter a plea at an arraignment in May 2023. A judge entered not guilty pleas to all charges on his behalf, and his defense has maintained his innocence over the more than two years leading up to his high-profile trial, which was moved from Moscow to Boise late last year. The trial was set to begin Aug. 18.
In March, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law House Bill 37, which made the firing squad the primary death penalty in Idaho.
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CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
What we know about Bryan Kohberger's plea deal and whether a judge will approve it
FacebookTweetLink Steve Goncalves was stunned over the weekend when he heard that prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, had reached a plea deal with Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the 2022 stabbing deaths of his daughter, Kaylee, and three other University of Idaho students. Just days earlier, Goncalves said he and a few of the victims' loved ones told prosecutors they did not support a plea deal. Instead, they urged prosecutors to continue pursuing the death penalty in Kohberger's upcoming quadruple murder trial, which Goncalves hoped would bring much-needed closure to their families. 'We don't want to deal. We're not interested in that. We didn't wait two and a half years for this,' the father said he told prosecutors on a Friday afternoon call. Goncalves said he walked away from the conversation with the impression that a plea deal was not a serious option in the case, leaving him blindsided when he received an email just two days later notifying him a deal had been reached. Ultimately, it was Kohberger's attorneys who broached the possibility of a plea deal as they endured a series of legal blows to their defense strategy, Goncalves told CNN's Jim Sciutto, citing conversations with prosecutors last week. The agreement would avoid a trial by allowing Kohberger to plead guilty to all four counts of murder in exchange for the government dropping the death penalty in the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Goncalves and his family have slammed the deal as 'hurried' and 'secretive,' saying prosecutors should have sought input from victims' loved ones on the conditions of the deal. Jeff Kernodle, Xana's father, also expressed disappointment in the prosecutor's decision. Kernodle mourned the deal as a 'missed opportunity to set a stronger precedent in how accountability should be handled in cases like this,' he said in a statement Tuesday. 'It could have sent a message to others that these kinds of horrific crimes carry real consequences. Instead, four beautiful lives were taken, and the person responsible won't be used as an example to help prevent something like this from happening again,' Kernodle added. In contrast, families of the other two victims say they support the plea deal. Ben Mogen, father of Madison, told the Idaho Statesman he was choosing acceptance, adding the plea agreement would let his family avoid a trial and allow its wounds to keep healing. Ethan's mother, Stacy Chapin, told CNN affiliate KHQ her family would be in court Wednesday 'in support of the plea bargain.' But the deal is not set in stone, and the judge could require Kohberger to confess to details of the crime, a legal expert said. State District Judge Steven Hippler must approve the deal and will oversee a hearing in the case at 11 a.m. Wednesday, during which the plea agreement will be addressed, a letter from the prosecutor to a victim's family says, according to an Idaho Statesman report. Plea deal negotiations are often protected by a halo of privacy, so details of the closed-door conversations between prosecutors and Kohberger's attorneys are unlikely to come out unless one side steps forward, according to University of Idaho associate law professor Samuel Newton. Commonly discussed in the legal process, plea deals involve prosecutors offering a defendant incentives, such as a less severe sentence, if they accept a guilty plea, Newton said. The costs and time commitment of a death penalty case may have also played a role in both sides wanting to reach an early conclusion, Newton said. Death penalty convictions often lead to decades of painstaking appeal efforts, which he said some victims' families describe as 'torture.' 'The family is looking at … decades of legal proceedings in a death penalty case, versus if he takes life without parole, it's done and the family gets that degree of closure,' Newton said. Kohberger's legal defense team has also suffered a series of losses in recent weeks which have narrowed their strategy options, including rulings barring the defense from submitting an official alibi – as no one could confirm Kohberger's whereabouts at the time of the killings – and rejecting their attempt to present an 'alternate perpetrator' theory. During Wednesday's hearing, the judge is likely to question Kohberger thoroughly to make sure he understands that he would be forfeiting his right to a trial and sentencing appeals if he accepts the deal, Newton said. Both Goncalves and Kernodle have criticized prosecutors for not including provisions in the plea deal that would require Kohberger to confess to specific details of the crime. Those details could have been revealed at trial, which still leaves questions over motive and how the stabbings were carried out. Goncalves hopes Judge Hippler will require Kohberger to make statements in court that would shed light on the remaining mysteries of the case. He also believes such statements would provide the suspect's supporters – many of whom maintain his innocence – less ground to stand on. 'We're all going to live with the repercussion for the rest of our lives … unless Hippler steps in and says, 'You're not going to just say you're guilty. You're going to communicate some of the details so these families can actually move on and not have to be dragged through this true crime nightmare over and over and over again.' Kernodle agreed, saying in his statement, 'It's incredibly hard to accept that a trial won't be happening. I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions and provide answers to the many questions that still remain, especially where evidence is missing or unclear.' Goncalves also believes the plea deal should have barred Kohberger from reaping financial gain from selling the details of his story in the future. There is a slim chance Kohberger could maintain his innocence while accepting the plea deal by entering an Alford plea, an option that stems from a 1970 Supreme Court case. 'The benefit of the Alford plea is for a defendant who feels that they're innocent but wants to take the deal,' Newton said, noting there are no substantial differences between a regular guilty plea and an Alford plea. 'It has the same result as a guilty plea. It's just the defendant themselves is not going to say that they did it.' If the defense went this route, the state may present a factual basis for Kohberger's guilty plea, including details of how the crime was carried out, and would require him to say 'guilty' after the facts were read, Newton said. Like a regular guilty plea, Kohberger would likely be waiving his right to appeal as well, he added. Newton said it seems unlikely prosecutors would have agreed to a plea deal if they didn't have assurances Kohberger would take responsibility for the killings, making the chances of an Alford plea questionable. CNN's Norma Galeana and Betul Tuncer contributed to this report.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
What we know about Bryan Kohberger's plea deal and whether a judge will approve it
Steve Goncalves was stunned over the weekend when he heard that prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, had reached a plea deal with Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the 2022 stabbing deaths of his daughter, Kaylee, and three other University of Idaho students. Just days earlier, Goncalves said he and a few of the victims' loved ones told prosecutors they did not support a plea deal. Instead, they urged prosecutors to continue pursuing the death penalty in Kohberger's upcoming quadruple murder trial, which Goncalves hoped would bring much-needed closure to their families. 'We don't want to deal. We're not interested in that. We didn't wait two and a half years for this,' the father said he told prosecutors on a Friday afternoon call. Goncalves said he walked away from the conversation with the impression that a plea deal was not a serious option in the case, leaving him blindsided when he received an email just two days later notifying him a deal had been reached. Ultimately, it was Kohberger's attorneys who broached the possibility of a plea deal as they endured a series of legal blows to their defense strategy, Goncalves told CNN's Jim Sciutto, citing conversations with prosecutors last week. The agreement would avoid a trial by allowing Kohberger to plead guilty to all four counts of murder in exchange for the government dropping the death penalty in the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Goncalves and his family have slammed the deal as 'hurried' and 'secretive,' saying prosecutors should have sought input from victims' loved ones on the conditions of the deal. Jeff Kernodle, Xana's father, also expressed disappointment in the prosecutor's decision. Kernodle mourned the deal as a 'missed opportunity to set a stronger precedent in how accountability should be handled in cases like this,' he said in a statement Tuesday. 'It could have sent a message to others that these kinds of horrific crimes carry real consequences. Instead, four beautiful lives were taken, and the person responsible won't be used as an example to help prevent something like this from happening again,' Kernodle added. In contrast, families of the other two victims say they support the plea deal. Ben Mogen, father of Madison, told the Idaho Statesman he was choosing acceptance, adding the plea agreement would let his family avoid a trial and allow its wounds to keep healing. Ethan's mother, Stacy Chapin, told CNN affiliate KHQ her family would be in court Wednesday 'in support of the plea bargain.' But the deal is not set in stone, and the judge could require Kohberger to confess to details of the crime, a legal expert said. State District Judge Steven Hippler must approve the deal and will oversee a hearing in the case at 11 a.m. Wednesday, during which the plea agreement will be addressed, a letter from the prosecutor to a victim's family says, according to an Idaho Statesman report. Plea deal negotiations are often protected by a halo of privacy, so details of the closed-door conversations between prosecutors and Kohberger's attorneys are unlikely to come out unless one side steps forward, according to University of Idaho associate law professor Samuel Newton. Commonly discussed in the legal process, plea deals involve prosecutors offering a defendant incentives, such as a less severe sentence, if they accept a guilty plea, Newton said. The costs and time commitment of a death penalty case may have also played a role in both sides wanting to reach an early conclusion, Newton said. Death penalty convictions often lead to decades of painstaking appeal efforts, which he said some victims' families describe as 'torture.' 'The family is looking at … decades of legal proceedings in a death penalty case, versus if he takes life without parole, it's done and the family gets that degree of closure,' Newton said. Kohberger's legal defense team has also suffered a series of losses in recent weeks which have narrowed their strategy options, including rulings barring the defense from submitting an official alibi – as no one could confirm Kohberger's whereabouts at the time of the killings – and rejecting their attempt to present an 'alternate perpetrator' theory. During Wednesday's hearing, the judge is likely to question Kohberger thoroughly to make sure he understands that he would be forfeiting his right to a trial and sentencing appeals if he accepts the deal, Newton said. Both Goncalves and Kernodle have criticized prosecutors for not including provisions in the plea deal that would require Kohberger to confess to specific details of the crime. Those details could have been revealed at trial, which is still leaves questions over motive and how the stabbings were carried out. Goncalves hopes Judge Hippler will require Kohberger to make statements in court that would shed light on the remaining mysteries of the case. He also believes such statements would provide the suspect's supporters – many of whom maintain his innocence – less ground to stand on. 'We're all going to live with the repercussion for the rest of our lives … unless Hippler steps in and says, 'You're not going to just say you're guilty. You're going to communicate some of the details so these families can actually move on and not have to be dragged through this true crime nightmare over and over and over again.' Kernodle agreed, saying in his statement, 'It's incredibly hard to accept that a trial won't be happening. I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions and provide answers to the many questions that still remain, especially where evidence is missing or unclear.' Goncalves also believes the plea deal should have barred Kohberger from reaping financial gain from selling the details of his story in the future. There is a slim chance Kohberger could maintain his innocence while accepting the plea deal by entering an Alford plea, an option that stems from a 1970 Supreme Court case. 'The benefit of the Alford plea is for a defendant who feels that they're innocent but wants to take the deal,' Newton said, noting there are no substantial differences between a regular guilty plea and an Alford plea. 'It has the same result as a guilty plea. It's just the defendant themselves is not going to say that they did it.' If the defense went this route, the state may present a factual basis for Kohberger's guilty plea, including details of how the crime was carried out, and would require him to say 'guilty' after the facts were read, Newton said. Like a regular guilty plea, Kohberger would likely be waiving his right to appeal as well, he added. Newton said it seems unlikely prosecutors would have agreed to a plea deal if they didn't have assurances Kohberger would take responsibility for the killings, making the chances of an Alford plea questionable. CNN's Norma Galeana and Betul Tuncer contributed to this report.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
What we know about Bryan Kohberger's plea deal and whether a judge will approve it
Steve Goncalves was stunned over the weekend when he heard that prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, had reached a plea deal with Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the 2022 stabbing deaths of his daughter, Kaylee, and three other University of Idaho students. Just days earlier, Goncalves said he and a few of the victims' loved ones told prosecutors they did not support a plea deal. Instead, they urged prosecutors to continue pursuing the death penalty in Kohberger's upcoming quadruple murder trial, which Goncalves hoped would bring much-needed closure to their families. 'We don't want to deal. We're not interested in that. We didn't wait two and a half years for this,' the father said he told prosecutors on a Friday afternoon call. Goncalves said he walked away from the conversation with the impression that a plea deal was not a serious option in the case, leaving him blindsided when he received an email just two days later notifying him a deal had been reached. Ultimately, it was Kohberger's attorneys who broached the possibility of a plea deal as they endured a series of legal blows to their defense strategy, Goncalves told CNN's Jim Sciutto, citing conversations with prosecutors last week. The agreement would avoid a trial by allowing Kohberger to plead guilty to all four counts of murder in exchange for the government dropping the death penalty in the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Goncalves and his family have slammed the deal as 'hurried' and 'secretive,' saying prosecutors should have sought input from victims' loved ones on the conditions of the deal. Jeff Kernodle, Xana's father, also expressed disappointment in the prosecutor's decision. Kernodle mourned the deal as a 'missed opportunity to set a stronger precedent in how accountability should be handled in cases like this,' he said in a statement Tuesday. 'It could have sent a message to others that these kinds of horrific crimes carry real consequences. Instead, four beautiful lives were taken, and the person responsible won't be used as an example to help prevent something like this from happening again,' Kernodle added. In contrast, families of the other two victims say they support the plea deal. Ben Mogen, father of Madison, told the Idaho Statesman he was choosing acceptance, adding the plea agreement would let his family avoid a trial and allow its wounds to keep healing. Ethan's mother, Stacy Chapin, told CNN affiliate KHQ her family would be in court Wednesday 'in support of the plea bargain.' But the deal is not set in stone, and the judge could require Kohberger to confess to details of the crime, a legal expert said. State District Judge Steven Hippler must approve the deal and will oversee a hearing in the case at 11 a.m. Wednesday, during which the plea agreement will be addressed, a letter from the prosecutor to a victim's family says, according to an Idaho Statesman report. Plea deal negotiations are often protected by a halo of privacy, so details of the closed-door conversations between prosecutors and Kohberger's attorneys are unlikely to come out unless one side steps forward, according to University of Idaho associate law professor Samuel Newton. Commonly discussed in the legal process, plea deals involve prosecutors offering a defendant incentives, such as a less severe sentence, if they accept a guilty plea, Newton said. The costs and time commitment of a death penalty case may have also played a role in both sides wanting to reach an early conclusion, Newton said. Death penalty convictions often lead to decades of painstaking appeal efforts, which he said some victims' families describe as 'torture.' 'The family is looking at … decades of legal proceedings in a death penalty case, versus if he takes life without parole, it's done and the family gets that degree of closure,' Newton said. Kohberger's legal defense team has also suffered a series of losses in recent weeks which have narrowed their strategy options, including rulings barring the defense from submitting an official alibi – as no one could confirm Kohberger's whereabouts at the time of the killings – and rejecting their attempt to present an 'alternate perpetrator' theory. During Wednesday's hearing, the judge is likely to question Kohberger thoroughly to make sure he understands that he would be forfeiting his right to a trial and sentencing appeals if he accepts the deal, Newton said. Both Goncalves and Kernodle have criticized prosecutors for not including provisions in the plea deal that would require Kohberger to confess to specific details of the crime. Those details could have been revealed at trial, which is still leaves questions over motive and how the stabbings were carried out. Goncalves hopes Judge Hippler will require Kohberger to make statements in court that would shed light on the remaining mysteries of the case. He also believes such statements would provide the suspect's supporters – many of whom maintain his innocence – less ground to stand on. 'We're all going to live with the repercussion for the rest of our lives … unless Hippler steps in and says, 'You're not going to just say you're guilty. You're going to communicate some of the details so these families can actually move on and not have to be dragged through this true crime nightmare over and over and over again.' Kernodle agreed, saying in his statement, 'It's incredibly hard to accept that a trial won't be happening. I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions and provide answers to the many questions that still remain, especially where evidence is missing or unclear.' Goncalves also believes the plea deal should have barred Kohberger from reaping financial gain from selling the details of his story in the future. There is a slim chance Kohberger could maintain his innocence while accepting the plea deal by entering an Alford plea, an option that stems from a 1970 Supreme Court case. 'The benefit of the Alford plea is for a defendant who feels that they're innocent but wants to take the deal,' Newton said, noting there are no substantial differences between a regular guilty plea and an Alford plea. 'It has the same result as a guilty plea. It's just the defendant themselves is not going to say that they did it.' If the defense went this route, the state may present a factual basis for Kohberger's guilty plea, including details of how the crime was carried out, and would require him to say 'guilty' after the facts were read, Newton said. Like a regular guilty plea, Kohberger would likely be waiving his right to appeal as well, he added. Newton said it seems unlikely prosecutors would have agreed to a plea deal if they didn't have assurances Kohberger would take responsibility for the killings, making the chances of an Alford plea questionable. CNN's Norma Galeana and Betul Tuncer contributed to this report.
