Bryan Kohberger conviction challenged after Idaho murders guilty plea
Bryan Kohberger filed for post-conviction relief after pleading guilty to killing four University of Idaho students, court records show.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Bryan Kohberger is trying to challenge his Bryan Kohberger conviction months after he admitted in court that he murdered four University of Idaho students, according to court records cited by CBS News.
Kohberger, a former doctoral student in criminal justice, filed a petition for post-conviction relief on Monday, the records show. CBS News reported it has requested a copy of the petition, and that Kohberger is representing himself.
Why is Bryan Kohberger challenging his conviction?
Kohberger first disclosed the filing in an interview with The New York Times, which reported that he claims he was misled into confessing. A petition for post-conviction relief is a legal request asking a court to review a conviction or sentence after the usual trial-court process has ended.
The filing comes after Kohberger pleaded guilty last July to the 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. The four students were killed in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
Kohberger was sentenced to four life terms without the possibility of parole. His plea was part of an agreement that kept the death penalty off the table, according to CBS News.
At a July 2025 hearing, Judge Steven Hippler asked Kohberger whether he murdered Chapin, Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves. Kohberger answered, “Yes.” When the judge asked whether he was pleading guilty because he was guilty, Kohberger again said, “Yes.”
What evidence did prosecutors say they had?
Prosecutors said that if the case had gone to trial, they were prepared to present DNA evidence connecting Kohberger to a knife sheath found at the crime scene, CBS News reported. The knife used in the killings has not been found.
Prosecutors also said they intended to use surveillance video showing Kohberger’s car, along with cellphone data that they said placed him near the area where the students were killed.
The case drew national attention after the November 2022 killings and the weeks-long search for a suspect. Authorities announced Kohberger’s arrest in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, more than a month after the murders.
Authorities have not publicly established a motive. During sentencing, CBS News reported, Kohberger displayed no emotion while relatives and loved ones of the victims read statements in court.
How did the Goncalves family respond?
In a statement Monday, the Goncalves family said Kohberger “received exactly what he asked for: a deal that spared his life.”
The family said he chose not to put the case before a jury and had not previously claimed he was uninformed or pressured. They also said he had not raised problems with discovery materials reviewed by him and his lawyers over two years.
The family also criticized public attention on Kohberger, saying the focus should remain on the victims. “The real tragedy is this: if even a fraction of the energy spent trying to free a guilty man were directed toward honoring the victims, there would be statues of them on every corner, parks bearing their names, and days set aside to remember the lives they lost,” the family said.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.