() The father of slain University of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves criticized a plea agreement that would spare Bryan Kohberger from the death penalty, calling it “anything but justice.”
“This is the opposite of our will,” Steve Goncalves told ’s “Banfield” on Monday evening in his first national interview since the plea deal report. “There was no majority (of victims’ survivors) believing that this was acceptable.”
Goncalves expressed outrage after learning that Kohberger, charged with killing four university students in November 2022, had accepted a plea deal that would sentence him to life in prison without parole in exchange for guilty pleas to murder and burglary charges.
“Prison is nothing but adult child care. You get free vision, you get free dental, you get free meals, you get AC room and board, cable TV, internet access. It’s ridiculous,” Goncalves said,
first reported that the plea agreement requires Kohberger to waive his right to appeal. A change of plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Goncalves blamed prosecutors and court leadership for the decision, saying they “decided to play God and decide what this man’s decision should be, and not a jury, not his peers.”
He praised law enforcement officers and FBI agents who worked on the case, placing fault “100%” on leadership.
The victim’s father said prosecutors never consulted families about their wishes regarding the plea deal, despite regular meetings with the prosecution team. He said multiple families opposed the agreement but declined to speak for other victims’ relatives.
Kaylee Goncalves Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom during a hearing Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow, Idaho. Defense attorneys for Kohberger who is charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students asked a judge Tuesday to order prosecutors to turn over more records, laying the groundwork for challenges to the case. Kohberger, 28, was indicted in May on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the Nov. 13, 2022, slayings of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a rental home near the University of Idaho campus. (August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP, Pool) Kohberger, 30, a former graduate student in criminal justice at Washington State University, faces murder charges for the deaths of Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin, who were killed at an off-campus house near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022. He had pleaded not guilty. (@kayleegoncalves Instagram)
“We had an outsider come to our community, kill our kids in their sleep while they’re getting a college education, doing everything that they should do, and we don’t have the courage to hold him accountable,” Goncalves said.
He urged Judge Steven Hippler to reject the plea agreement, asking the public to contact the judge to oppose the deal.
“We couldn’t pick the prosecution. We inherited them,” Goncalves said.
Shanon Gray, attorney for the Goncalves family, said judges typically accept plea agreements when both prosecution and defense present sufficient facts supporting guilty pleas to the charges.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
