Bryan Kohberger was sentenced to life in prison after murdering four University of Idaho students — but he might still be able to appeal.
Kohberger was arrested in December 2024, a little over one month after breaking into the Moscow, Idaho, home located at 1122 King Road and stabbing Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves to death. While he initially pleaded not guilty, Kohberger entered a new plea last month.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary last month as part of a plea agreement that took the death penalty off the table. Had the case gone to trial (it was set to start this month), the Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson would have sought the death penalty.
“This certainly was a case where the death penalty was appropriate,” Thompson told The Idaho Statesman. “If we ended up going through trial into a penalty phase, I think under the law it met the elements.”
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The former PhD student was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences for his crimes without the possibility of parole.
When entering his guilty plea, Kohberger waived his right to appeal, but there are still some options on the table.
“Theoretically, there’s some legal avenues that Kohberger could explore, but I think all of those will likely be futile,” trial attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis told NewsNation late last month.
Faddis further explained that Kohberger can still file for post-conviction relief. Essentially, grounds for this appeal would be Kohberger claiming that he had ineffective assistance of counsel, there was a discovery violation, prosecutorial misconduct or that he was coerced into making the plea deal.
Judge Steven Hippler, who presided over Kohberger’s case, made a similar explanation during the sentencing hearing.
“The fact that a defendant waives a right to appeal doesn’t mean they don’t have a right to appeal,” he said.
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Kohberger has a 42-day period to appeal, which started following his sentencing, but it could potentially violate the plea agreement.
Hippler also addressed the sealed documents in Kohberger’s case. Key players in Kohberger’s case were under a gag order, which lifted after he was sentenced. The Moscow Police Department has already released over 300 documents used within the investigation. (Us Weekly read and broke down the most shocking discoveries, here.)
“I’m unlikely to unseal much until after sentencing and after the appeals period has run,” Hippler explained to the court last month, meaning there could be more details released to the public.