Three upcoming hearings involving convicted Idaho student killer Bryan Kohberger have been unexpectedly vacated, a move his family’s attorney says could signal the beginning of a far longer post-conviction legal process.
Kohberger was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022, in connection with the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students six weeks earlier.
In July 2025, he accepted a plea deal that spared him the death penalty. A year later, he petitioned the court to withdraw the plea, alleging ineffective counsel and claiming he was misled into pleading guilty.
“This simply marks the start of a longer post-conviction relief process,” said Jason Goldman, a New York attorney representing Kohberger’s 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 deaths 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)
Judge Steven Hippler’s amended scheduling order is expected to provide more details about the vacated hearings. The first had been scheduled for Thursday.
The amended order has not yet been made public.
Thursday’s hearing was initially set to consider a motion by Kohberger’s new Idaho attorney, Greg Rauch, who is seeking to remove Hippler from the case over concerns about potential bias.
Two additional hearings scheduled for next year have also been vacated. The new order is expected to affect a series of deadlines set for the coming months.
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)
The killings shocked the country. The four undergraduates were stabbed to death during a home invasion at an off-campus rental house just steps from the University of Idaho campus.
The victims were Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles while sitting 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. The image was shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
After weeks without a publicly identified suspect, Kohberger’s arrest at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania stunned the nation.
At the time, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, located about 10 miles away across the state line from the University of Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger’s childhood home in Effort, Pennsylvania, was located about 10 minutes north of Pleasant Valley High School, where he graduated in 2013. The family moved elsewhere in Monroe County in fall 2012, according to online messages between Kohberger and a high school friend. (Kevin Fixler/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Kohberger offered no motive or explanation when he pleaded guilty last year. In a handwritten motion filed in July seeking post-conviction relief, he claimed he was innocent.
This is a developing story.
