Idaho judge grants Bryan Kohberger two hearings next year as admitted killer seeks to withdraw guilty plea
Bryan Kohberger wants to take back his guilty plea
Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to killing four University of Idaho students, now plans to file for post-conviction, according to court records. Kohberger wants to withdraw his guilty plea. Court records show he filed a petition for post-conviction relief Monday. LiveNOW's Andy Mac discussed the development with Kevin Fixler from the Idaho Statesman.
Convicted quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger, who admitted to stabbing four University of Idaho students a year before he proclaimed his innocence and asked to withdraw his guilty plea, has been granted two days in court next year as part of his petition for post-conviction relief.
Judge Steven Hippler, who accepted Kohberger's guilty pleas in July 2025, set a status conference for June 3, 2027, and an evidentiary hearing two weeks later on June 17 of that year, according to a court order dated Wednesday.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to dismiss Kohberger's petition without a hearing.
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Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the murders of four University of Idaho students — Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — in a plea deal that spared him from the potential death penalty.
A year later, he asked to withdraw his guilty pleas and proclaimed his innocence in a petition for post-conviction relief.
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Kohberger, in a handwritten petition on July 27, 2026, claimed that he was "convinced to falsely confess" by his high-profile defense team of Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Bicka Barlow. He alleged that they failed to tell him about "exculpatory discovery" — hair found at the scene that was not tested for DNA. It was excluded as Kohberger's through a physical analysis.
University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed in a November 2022 attack at an off-campus house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho. (Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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His new attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Police found his DNA on a knife sheath recovered from the crime scene in a bed with two of the victims, according to authorities. They also tracked his vehicle coming and going, and forensic investigators were prepared to testify about how. Although he shut his phone off during the murders, the evidence suggested he drove to and from the crime scene anyway.
Separately, Sy Ray, a former expert witness working for Kohberger's defense team, last month alleged that there is additional damaging evidence that investigators hadn't introduced before Kohberger's guilty plea.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. Kohberger pleaded guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty for the stabbing of four University of Idaho students. Netflix'
Hippler sentenced him to four consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole, plus another 10 years.
The plea deal required Kohberger to waive his right to appeal. However, that doesn't block him from seeking post-conviction relief, which could potentially reopen the case or result in a new trial.
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Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador told Fox News Digital shortly after Kohberger's petition was filed that his office is "ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out."