Share this @internewscast.com
Just a few days after Amanda Kohberger was unexpectedly added to the witness list by the prosecution, Bryan Kohberger decided to accept a plea bargain, thereby concluding the case before it officially went to trial, as indicated by recent court documents.
Freshly opened court records reveal Amanda Kohberger was included on both the prosecution’s updated witness list and the defense’s witness list for mitigation purposes, the latter authored by lead lawyer Anne Taylor.
Documents showing Amanda’s dual potential as a witness for both prosecutorial and defense teams were filed in the weeks leading up to Kohberger’s plea deal. Shortly after Amanda’s name appeared on the prosecution’s witness list on June 25, Kohberger agreed to a plea deal, avoiding a trial altogether.
Maryann Kohberger, seen wearing sunglasses, and her daughter Amanda, walked out of the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, on July 23, 2025. They were present for Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing related to the murder of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
The documents reveal differing strategies. The prosecution’s witness list as of June 25 included 180 individuals, ranging from investigators and forensic analysts to relatives of victims, with Bryan’s sister Amanda notably among them.
ABC News referred to 2014 police records that showed Bryan’s father, Michael Kohberger, once accused his son of stealing his sister Melissa’s iPhone. The police chose not to comment on the incident, affirming only that the record had been expunged and is “no longer available.”
By contrast, the defense’s mitigation list, filed June 6, named 56 witnesses intended for the sentencing phase, including psychologists, corrections experts and nearly every member of Kohberger’s immediate family.
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. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
The case has drawn national attention since the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when four students — Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves — were found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger, a former Ph.D. criminology student at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in December 2022 after a cross-country investigation.
Exterior view of Idaho State Correctional Complex in Kuna, Idaho, July 22, 2025. Bryan Kohberger is being housed at this facility after being sentenced for killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
