Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four Idaho college students with a knife, has accepted a plea deal. He will plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table.
The plea deal — the defense requested an offer from the prosecution — will take the death penalty off the table in exchange for Kohberger pleading guilty to all charges: the four first-degree murder counts and an additional charge of felony burglary. He’s expected to appear at the Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday at 11 a.m. for a change of plea hearing, according to the letter sent to the families.
If Kohberger pleads guilty “as expected,” he’ll likely be sentenced in late July, with the agreed-upon sentence being life in prison, according to the letter.
Part of the agreement is that Kohberger waives his right to appeal so he'll never be able to challenge the sentence or be paroled early. The letter sent by prosecutors presents this as a win for the families of the victims.
“We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,” read the letter, signed by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and Ashley Jennings, his senior deputy. “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.”
But the family of Kaylee Goncalves is speaking out. Initially, they just said they were furious.
It's true! We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected. We appreciate all your love and support.
A few hours later they clarified that there was a meeting last Friday where this possibility was mentioned in passing and they said no.
We DID talk to the prosecution on Friday about the POSSIBILITY of a plea deal and it was a HARD NO from our family. It was very nonchalant and barely discussed as the majority of the conversation was surrounding the upcoming trial. NOTHING in our conversation prepared us for the next steps. Sunday night we received an email that sent us scrambling. We immediately jumped into panic mode and started making phone calls and sending emails. We met with prosecution AGAIN today to reiterate our views on pushing for the death penalty. Unfortunately all of our efforts did not matter. We DID OUR BEST! We fought harder then anyone could EVER imagine. Please do not argue or try to tell us that we should have done this or that. We gave it 200% for the last 2 years and 7 months. One day we will tell you all what we have really been through from day one. You will all be shocked. We fought a long battle, but we lost the war. We did gain an army of love that we know will always stand by us! We have so much love for each and every one of you. You all gave us strength when we felt like we couldn't take another step, called us off the ledge when we were ready to wave the white flag, and most importantly prayed for us when we were in utter despair and hopeless. So much LOVE to ALL of you
Reading between the lines here, it sounds like all of the families had a similar meeting with prosecutors last week. Some or all of the other families may have said yes to a plea deal. The fact that no one else is complaining (thus far) also suggests the other families aren't as upset about this outcome.
I can see why Kohberger would take this deal. Frankly, it's probably the best possible outcome for him given the amount of evidence stacked up against him.
The change in plea comes after several legal setbacks for Kohberger’s defense over the past two years of pre-trial rulings. Most notably, his team fought to have the death penalty struck from his case because of his diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. But they could not persuade the judge that his disorder was equivalent to an intellectual disability, which would disqualify someone for capital punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
The defense had also argued that a change of venue last year that shifted the case to Ada County from the much smaller Latah County had set back their preparation for a trial that was expected to last three months.
The defense won the venue argument to have the trial moved, claiming Kohberger couldn't receive a fair trial in the small town where the crime happened. The problem was that moving the trial didn't change the facts. Kohberger's DNA was still found under one of the bodies on a sheath for a knife which his Amazon history showed he had purchased shortly before the crime.
Mr. Kohberger’s defense team tried unsuccessfully for months to undermine key pieces of evidence that investigators collected against him. Prosecutors have said that his DNA was found on a knife sheath recovered at the crime scene, and that records showed he had purchased a knife of a kind matching the sheath in the months before the killings. Video footage showed a car similar to his circling the neighborhood around the time of the deaths.
He had no alibi except that he was out driving. So, from his perspective, taking the deal makes sense. A conviction based on the evidence seemed all but certain.
The tougher question is this: Why would prosecutors offer this deal? Their evidence was strong and Kohberger's attempt to have it thrown out had all failed. The only thing that makes sense to me, based on following this in the media, is that the NBC Dateline special released last month threw a monkey-wrench into the case. I wrote about this special last month on the day it aired. It was full of new and incriminating information that hadn't been revealed before. For instance:
In late September, records from the criminology student’s phone and in possession of law enforcement included an internet search for “Sociopathic Traits in College Student,” and the following month, there was a search for pornography containing keywords “drugged” and “sleeping.”...
In the days after the murders, there was browsing activity on Kohberger’s phone that law enforcement would later collect forensically. One Google search was for “University of Idaho Murders.” Other searches were for a program about serial killer Ted Bundy and a YouTube video about the King Road victims...
...the search history on Kohberger’s phone would show more videos of Ted Bundy, the song “Criminal” by Britney Spears and additional selfies, including Kohberger wearing a black hoodie like how Bundy was dressed in a program viewed on YouTube.
The defense argued there was only one place this information could have come from. It must have been leaked by the police or the prosecutors themselves. The judge was clearly upset about the leak and granted that it probably was what it looked like.
Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys on Wednesday to give him a list of everyone — including staffers, law enforcement officers and defense consultants — who might have had access to the previously unreported information about Kohberger’s internet search history and other details that were featured in an NBC “Dateline” episode that aired May 9.
The judge said he would be open to appointing a special prosecutor to track down the leak, which likely violated a gag order that has been in place since 2023...
Hippler wrote in court documents that it appeared likely that someone associated with law enforcement or the prosecution team violated the court’s gag order. The leak will potentially make it harder to seat an impartial jury, drawing out an already long and complicated court case and costing taxpayers more money, Hippler wrote.
Given the months spent on this case Judge Hippler was going to move forward anyway, but prosecutors must have realized that the chance Kohberger could win an appeal (by claiming his trial was compromised by a police leak) was non-zero. Even if they secured a conviction, it might not hold up given that the death penalty was on the table. An appeals court was going to scrutinize the leak issue carefully given what was at stake.
That's all speculation, but it's my best guess why the prosecution decided a plea deal with no possibility of parole might be better than rolling the dice on an appeal somewhere down the line where evidence would strongly suggest a police officer had leaked information to a TV show and tainted the jury pool even after the case was moved to a different jurisdiction to ensure a fair trial.
Again, no one is admitting that's what happened here, not yet anyway. Hopefully we'll know more by the time Kohberger makes his plea tomorrow.
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