Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger fights to remove judge

Kohberger’s new attorney is making another challenge to Idaho prosecutors as he seeks to remove the judge who described his client as a “faceless coward” from the post-conviction proceedings.

Court-appointed lawyer Greg Rauch says Latah County prosecutors have merely “regurgitated” legal rules instead of responding to the issues raised in his motion to disqualify Judge Steven Hippler.

Hippler said Kohberger, now 31, “slithered” into the victims’ home before carrying out a crime that made him “the worst of the worst,” comments he made after Kohberger admitted guilt last year.

Rauch argues that the central issue “is how [Hippler’s] statements about counsel’s preparation and [Kohberger’s] capacity for truthfulness bear on the disputes it may now decide, in combination with the myriad of other statements made.”

While discussing Kohberger’s decision not to make an allocution or offer an explanation, Hippler also questioned whether the defendant had the ability to speak truthfully.

“Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?” Hippler asked during sentencing. “Do we really believe, after all of this, he is capable of speaking the truth, or of giving up something of himself to help the very people whose lives he destroyed? Rather, I suspect the so-called reason would be dished out in enticing self-serving and aggrandizing untruthful bits, leaving people wanting more information, more insight, and thus enhancing even further the power he seeks to hold.”

Rauch acknowledged that judges can deny defense motions and condemn horrific crimes before presiding over later post-conviction litigation.

“The question is not whether someone might criticize the Court, but whether an informed, reasonable observer could question its impartiality in light of this connected record,” Rauch wrote.

Rauch’s argument extends beyond Hippler’s sentencing remarks. The judge also drew criticism from the defense over a scheduling order issued in June, just days before Kohberger stunned the country by pleading guilty to avoid a possible death sentence.

“This motion does not rest upon one adverse ruling, one harsh statement, or the mere fact that the judge who presided over Bryan Kohberger’s criminal case has been assigned to his post-conviction proceeding,” Rauch wrote in the initial 22-page motion filed Aug. 27. “It rests upon the extraordinary convergence of all of them.”

Hippler had denied a request from Kohberger’s former attorney, Anne Taylor, for additional time. In a June 26 order, he called her discovery concerns “ultimately empty” and suggested they were an effort to delay the trial.

Six days later, during a hearing on the change of plea, Hippler asked Taylor, “Have you been able to do all the discovery you feel necessary?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” she responded.

In an opposition filed earlier this month, prosecutors said Kohberger had not demonstrated that Hippler “is biased.”

Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, who announced his retirement earlier this week, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scholl argued that Hippler’s comments about Kohberger—made after he admitted killing four innocent students—were neither unusual nor improper.

“In our case, the sentencing remarks are not enough to show bias, and the required showing of perceived bias cannot be tied to this Court’s capacity to fairly adjudicate any [post-conviction relief] claims alleged in this case but rather puts this Court in the best position to adjudicate them as the legislature and the Idaho Supreme Court’s rules intend,” they wrote.

Rauch also argued that Hippler could voluntarily recuse himself from the case to avoid any appearance of partiality.

In the new 12-page filing, Rauch also argued that prosecutors have attributed concessions to his client that were never made, mischaracterized his initial motion and failed to address some of the arguments he did make in it.

“The State’s Response does not resolve this motion by repeating the ordinary rule, supplying concessions Petitioner never made, or calling the disputed statements routine,” Rauch wrote.

Kohberger is attempting to undo his guilty plea in the University of Idaho student murders that killed Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in November 2022.

The former criminology Ph.D. student initially filed a handwritten petition for post-conviction relief in July.

Rauch was later appointed to represent him and has until Jan. 13, 2027 to file an amended petition that is expected to be much more in-depth than Kohberger’s.

“A request for an impartial adjudicator is certainly not a request for a sympathetic one,” he wrote. “Reassignment would change the judge, not the evidence or the governing law.”

A hearing on the matter was supposed to take place Thursday, before Hippler abruptly canceled it and said it would be rescheduled later.