Bryan Kohberger’s newly added attorney says forthcoming court papers — and the possibility of an evidentiary hearing — could bring greater clarity to lingering questions in the Idaho student murders case. For now, however, the defense is concentrating on whether the guilty plea Kohberger is seeking to undo can withstand constitutional scrutiny.
Jason Goldman, a New York-based lawyer who has joined Kohberger’s legal team, told News Outlet on Monday that an amended post-conviction relief petition and any related hearing are expected to address issues that have not yet been fully answered. Still, he said the defense’s immediate focus is examining the constitutional concerns tied to Kohberger’s plea.
In a handwritten post-conviction relief filing submitted in July, Kohberger alleged that he received ineffective assistance from his previous attorneys. He also claimed his guilty plea was not entered knowingly or voluntarily, arguing it was influenced by promises that were not kept and by threats he says were made by his own legal counsel.
University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were killed during a November 2022 attack inside an off-campus home on King Road in Moscow, Idaho. (Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Goldman said the events surrounding Kohberger’s plea, particularly what took place in the crucial days before it was entered, warrant a careful and independent review by the court. Some details, he noted, are already reflected in public filings, while others have not yet been disclosed.
The attorney also pointed to Kohberger’s continued support from his family as one of the reasons he decided to become involved in the case.
Bryan Kohberger is seen at the Ada County Courthouse during his sentencing hearing on July 23, 2025, in Boise, Idaho. He pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students nearly three years earlier. (Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images)
Goldman said that many relatives and friends distance themselves when someone close to them is arrested, especially in a case involving highly publicized murder charges. In Kohberger’s case, he said, the continued backing from family is notable.
Judge Steven Hippler set a Nov. 13 deadline for Kohberger’s lawyers to file an amended petition which is expected to be written by attorneys and include more in-depth legal arguments than the handwritten petition Kohberger submitted in July.
Idaho defense attorney Greg Rauch was appointed to represent Kohberger last month. Goldman said he would be joining as out-of-state counsel but is not yet officially on the docket.
Bryan Kohberger arrives at a Pennsylvania courthouse for an extradition hearing in January 2023. He pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students on July 1, 2025. (The Image Direct for News Outlet)
Prosecutors have asked the judge to dismiss Kohberger’s petition on numerous grounds, but Kohberger’s lawyers filed a motion last week to have the judge removed from the case and to change the venue back to Moscow, Idaho, where the offices of Rauch and the Latah County Prosecuting Attorney are both located.
Kohberger had previously sought a change of venue out of Latah County, where the murders took place, which landed him in front of Hippler in Ada County.
Madison Mogen, top left, smiles 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, shared the day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)
“The motion speaks for itself,” Goldman said. “We must ensure that the serious constitutional questions at play are heard in a forum whose impartiality and neutrality cannot be questioned.”
The motion, signed by Rauch, questions Hippler’s impartiality, noting that he declined to give Kohberger’s former defense team more time when they said they were not finished with discovery review weeks before trial.
Rauch also took issue with some of the language Hippler has since used to describe his client: “someone in whom the Court could identify nothing remaining that was ‘good or intrinsically human.'”
Kohberger, 31, last year pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge for the 2022 stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
Maryann Kohberger, (wearing sunglasses) mother of Bryan Kohberger, along with her daughter, Amanda Kohberger, exit Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The pair were in attendance for Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing for the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Derek Shook for News Outlet)
He did not give a motive.
In a motion filed last week, Deputy Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scholl asked for a transcript of Kohberger’s July 2, 2025, change of plea hearing, in which Kohberger’s own words could be used to rebut the new claims in his petition.
Hippler set a Nov. 13 deadline — four years to the day after the murders — for Kohberger’s legal team to file an amended petition and set aside two potential dates for a status conference and evidentiary hearing next year.
Hearings on the recusal and venue motions could be held before then.
“We will let the evidence and the filings speak in due course,” Goldman told News Outlet. “Stay tuned.”
