Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the Idaho murders case, is anticipated to plead guilty on Wednesday during his court appearance following an agreement reached earlier this week, which has faced criticism from some family members of the victims.
The 30-year-old Kohberger is charged with the murders of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The attack occurred during a home invasion on November 13, 2022, at around 4 a.m.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Kohberger might not be required to explain the crime as part of the plea deal, as reported by Fox News Digital on Tuesday. He is set to appear at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise at 11 a.m.
“By taking a plea deal, Bryan Kohberger has insulated himself from a sentence that would require his execution,” Idaho defense lawyer Edwina Elcox, who has had cases in front of Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler, told Fox News Digital. “Only a jury can sentence him to death. Regardless, he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of ever being in society again.”
“We weren’t even called about the plea; we received an email with a letter attached,” the statement continued. “That’s how Latah County’s Prosecutor’s Office treats murder victims’ families. Adding insult to injury, they’re rushing the plea, giving families just one day to coordinate and appear at the courthouse for a plea on July 2.”
The house where four college students were brutally stabbed to death is boarded up and surrounded by security fencing Feb. 23, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Steve Goncalves told NewsNation Monday the plea deal decision is “anything but justice.” He further commended law enforcement for their work in investigating the case, noting that “the failure was at the court level.”
“The fault is in leadership and the people that you place this evidence upon. They were weak,” Goncalves said.
Steven Goncalves, his wife Kristi Goncalves, and their murdered daughter, Kaylee Goncalves. (Ted Warren via AP/Instagram)
Goncalves added that he met with prosecutors regularly, but no one called him about Kohberger’s decision to accept a plea deal.
Gray told NewsNation he expected Hippler to accept Kohberger’s plea Wednesday and move on to his sentencing in the next “few weeks,” when victims will be able to give victim impact statements in court.
Ethan Chapin was a triplet. His two siblings recalled the moment they found out from a friend what had happened to the 20-year-old and his girlfriend, Kernodle, in their home off the University of Idaho campus Nov. 13, 2022, in an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” recorded before news of the plea deal emerged.
The Chapin family. Ethan was one of four University of Idaho students murdered in November 2022. (Stacy Chapin)
“I was like, ‘Where’s Ethan and Xana?'” Hunter Chapin, Ethan’s brother, said of that morning, when he walked to the house where Ethan was staying after hearing there were police outside. “And [a friend was] like, ‘They’re not here anymore.’ It’s like, ‘What do you mean they’re not here anymore?’ He’s like, ‘I think they were murdered last night.'”
Stacy Chapin, Ethan’s mother, told GMA she was in a grocery store when she received a call from Hunter, who repeatedly said, “He’s not here anymore,” to which he responded, “‘Well, go get him. Go find him.’
Ethan Chapin’s parents decided to visit their two surviving children at the University of Idaho every other weekend since Ethan’s Nov. 13 murder. (Stacy Wells Chapin)
“And he just kept saying it,” Stacy Chapin said. “And he goes, ‘No, Mom. You don’t understand. Ethan and Xana,’ I think he said, ‘are not on this earth anymore.'”
She said that within hours of receiving the news about Ethan, she made a commitment to keep her family intact.
“The first thing that I told these kids was, ‘I do not know what in the hell has just happened to our family right now, but this isn’t gonna sink us. We will carry on,'” Stacy Chapin told GMA. “It will look different, it’s gonna feel different. But we will do it.
“These two deserve a lifetime of happiness. I mean, they have seen the very bottom,” she told GMA. “I’d do anything for them.”
