Prosecutors who reached a plea agreement with Bryan Kohberger emailed the victims’ families to explain their choice to halt the pursuit of the death penalty, despite the families’ wishes.
The families of the murdered University of Idaho students—Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20—stated they were taken by surprise by this decision, which they learned about through a letter on Sunday.
Kohberger has accepted a plea deal in which he will admit to four counts of murder and one count of burglary. This agreement requires a judge’s approval, and Kohberger’s next court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
In return, he would be spared a death sentence and instead spend the rest of his life behind bars, without the opportunity for parole or any future appeals.
The deal was struck days after prosecutors met with the victims’ relatives, who insist it was only ‘vaguely’ hinted at before it was rushed ahead, leaving them ‘scrambling’.
Relatives of both Goncalves and Kernodle have slammed the ‘shocking and cruel’ bargain, revealing they begged prosecutors not to proceed with it when they were first alerted to the proposal on Friday.
But days later they received an email with a letter attached from prosecutors explaining the deal was done and offering their reasoning.
‘We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,’ the letter, seen by the Idaho Statesman, reads.
Kohberger on Sunday agreed to the terms of a deal which would see him plead guilty to murdering four college students, Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin , 20
Maddie Mogen was one of four students killed. Her father, Ben, is so far the only family member of a victim to speak out in favor of the deal
‘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.
‘Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.’
The letter was signed by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson and Ashley Jennings, his deputy.
It stated that Kohberger will now appear at the Ada County Courthouse on Wednesday at 11am.
If all goes to plan, he will there plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
From there, he will likely be sentenced to life in prison in late July, prosecutors allegedly told the families.
If he does not plead as expected, the scheduled trial will continue as planned.
Kernodle and her boyfriend, Chapin, were tragically murdered. Now, Kohberger is set to accept guilt for the crimes in exchange for prosecutors dropping the death penalty
Kernodle’s aunt Kim said through tears that they’d begged prosecutors not to offer Kohberger any deal
The Goncalves family shed new light on the conversations they had with authorities on their Facebook page on Monday night, confirming they spoke to the prosecution on Friday ‘about the possibility of a plea deal.’
‘It was a HARD NO from our family,’ they wrote.
‘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 fought a long battle, but we lost the war.’
Goncalves’ father Steve has called on the judge presiding over the case to reject the deal in order for the families to pursue the death penalty at trial.
Similarly, Kernodle’s aunt Kim told TMZ through tears that they’d begged prosecutors not to offer Kohberger any deal.
Kim claimed that when prosecutors raised the prospect of a deal, they didn’t make clear that the death penalty would be taken off the table. They said avoiding trial would ‘spare’ families from graphic details of the atrocious crimes.
‘We know the graphics. They were not trying to spare us.’
The Goncalves family shed new light on the conversations they had with authorities on their Facebook page on Monday night, confirming they spoke to the prosecution on Friday ‘about the possibility of a plea deal’
Mogen’s father Ben has so far been the only relative to speak out in favor of the deal, stating avoiding the trial could protect the peace of the victim’s loved ones.
Kohberger’s team reached out to prosecutors late last week expressing a willingness to accept a plea deal.
He had been unsuccessfully trying to get the court to rule out the death penalty as a punishment should he be convicted.
Last Thursday his defense was dealt yet another hammer blow when Judge Steven Hippler slapped down Kohberger’s efforts to point the finger at four alternate suspects – blasting his legal team’s evidence as ‘entirely irrelevant’ and ‘wild speculation.’
Judge Hippler blocked the defense from presenting evidence to the jury alleging that these mystery individuals – and not Kohberger – could be the real killer or killers.
In the order, Judge Hippler hammered the defense team, saying that the evidence presented to the court was ‘entirely irrelevant’ and that the attorneys had not shown a ‘scintilla of competent evidence connecting [the four alleged alternate suspects] to the crime.’
‘Here, the evidence Defendant has offered purporting to establish the four individuals as alternate perpetrators abjectly fails to meet the Meister standard. Namely, the evidence is entirely irrelevant,’ Hippler wrote.
‘Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding.’
The ruling was a huge blow to Kohberger’s legal team as they scrambled to find a defense which could compete with the state’s mounting evidence against him.
