Bryan Kohberger, the convicted quadruple murderer who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students before later declaring his innocence and seeking to take back his plea, will get two court dates next year as he pursues post-conviction relief.
Judge Steven Hippler, who formally accepted Kohberger’s guilty pleas in July 2025, scheduled a status conference for June 3, 2027, followed by an evidentiary hearing on June 17, 2027, according to a court order issued Wednesday.
The decision comes after prosecutors urged the judge to reject Kohberger’s petition without holding a hearing.
Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho, after admitting to the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool) (Kyle Green/AP Photo, Pool)
Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to murdering University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. The plea agreement removed the possibility that he could face the death penalty.
Roughly a year later, Kohberger filed a petition for post-conviction relief, asking to withdraw his guilty pleas while asserting that he is innocent.
Bryan Kohberger arrives at a Pennsylvania courthouse for an extradition hearing in January 2023. He pleaded guilty on July 1, 2025, to the murders of four University of Idaho students. (The Image Direct for News Outlet)
In a handwritten petition dated July 27, 2026, Kohberger claimed he had been “convinced to falsely confess” by his prominent defense team, which included Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Bicka Barlow. He also alleged they did not inform him about what he described as “exculpatory discovery” — hair found at the crime scene that was not subjected to DNA testing. A physical analysis had excluded the hair as belonging to Kohberger.
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)
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.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles on the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and two other housemates in Goncalves’ final Instagram post, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
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’s documentary about the case, “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare.” is now streaming. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
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.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador told News Outlet shortly after Kohberger’s petition was filed that his office is “ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out.”
