Bryan Kohberger put his guilt in writing and signed the bottom – without giving any explanation for the Idaho student murders that left four college students dead in a home invasion massacre days before they would have gone home for Thanksgiving in November 2022.
Kohberger, in a one-page document published by the Fourth Judicial District Court in Ada County, admitted to breaking into the off-campus house at 1122 King Road, in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022, with the intent to commit murder.
Then, with premeditation and malice aforethought, he stabbed Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
The killer is due to return on July 23 for formal sentencing.
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)
He is expected to receive four consecutive terms of life in prison without parole, plus another 10 years.
As part of the deal, he waived his right to appeal and the right to move for a future sentence reduction.
Kohberger’s trial would have kicked off next month.
If he were convicted, it would be up to the jurors whether he received life in prison or the death penalty, and he would have been expected to appeal the case for decades, up to the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or beyond.
Bryan Kohberger enters the courtroom, looking at defense attorney Anne Taylor, for his arraignment hearing in Latah County District Court, Monday, May 22, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. Kohberger is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022. (Zach Wilkinson/Pool via REUTERS)
Mogen and Chapin’s parents have voiced support for the plea deal. Goncalves’ family vocally opposed it.
