Bryan Kohberger’s lawyer says public doesn't know the 'complete story’ about Idaho murders
Bryan Kohberger’s new lawyer has said there’s more to the case than people know as the convicted killer attempts to withdraw his guilty plea.
Kohberger, 31, previously pleaded guilty to the killings of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in November 2022 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
However, a year on from his sentencing, Kohberger claimed that his plea had been made due to ‘disinformation’ and filed a petition seeking to withdraw it.
In a statement to The New York Times, he said: "My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
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It was later reported that the former criminology student had sacked his legal team and had been appointed a new one.
Earlier this month, a judge agreed to two new hearings as he attempts to withdraw his guilty plea.
Judge Steven Hippler granted an evidentiary hearing for 17 June 17 2027, to review Kohberger’s request for a new trial, a court filing showed.
The judge also scheduled a status conference on the hearing 3 June 2027.
Now, his new lawyer Jason Goldman has spoken out about the case for the first time.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Goldman said he would ‘simply caution against assuming that everything the public believes it knows about this case tells the complete story’.
He went on to say that ‘there remain serious questions about how this case reached its present posture and a hearing will provide an appropriate forum to address those issues’.
Kohberger has also filed a motion to replace the judge who presided over his plea deal proceedings.
Goldman said ‘it would be an inherent conflict for the same presiding judge to decide these very issues’.
Although Kohberger is attempting to have the judge removed from the case, it is the same judge that granted his two new hearings.
If successful, Kohberger would be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea and his convictions would be vacated.
However, he wouldn’t become a free man, instead the case would go back to its pre-plea stage, allowing prosecutors to again seek the death penalty or life in jail.
The victim's family hit out
When news broke of Kohberger’s attempt to withdraw his guilty plea, the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves hit out and branded him a ‘narcissist’ who simply wanted ‘another day in court’.
"A nice break from his solitary confinement, getting to go for a ride, maybe some different food, photos taken and the attention all back on him and his 'innocence'," they said in a statement on their Facebook page.
"He never cried wolf or claimed he was uninformed, pressured, or that there were issues with the discovery that he and his counsel had for two years that he thought should have been challenged.
"The real issue is that if as much energy was put into honouring the victims in this case as trying to set a guilty man free there would be [statues] of the victims on every corner."
Kohberger’s attempt to rescind his guilty plea came just days before a Netflix documentary about the case was due to land.
Titled The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare, the documentary centred on the horrific killings and featured accounts from the group's friends and family.
Claire Reid