An Idaho prosecutor was slammed for offering quadruple-murderer Bryan Kohberger a plea deal, but legal experts have now revealed a key detail in the bargain they say guarantees justice.
Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the November 2022 murders of Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle in Moscow, Idaho.
The controversial plea bargain spared him the death penalty and will instead see him serve four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
The deal left unanswered lingering questions that a trial might have explored, such as Kohberger’s motives, and divided the victims’ families, with some left outraged that the quadruple killer now cannot be sentenced to execution or death by firing squad.
But a criminal defense attorney highlighted how the deal included a clause that Kohberger cannot ever appeal.
He says that is ‘huge benefit’ for the families and the prosecution that will spare the monster from challenging his sentence at a later date.
‘The idea that for decades we’re not going to be suffering through him appealing everything that may have taken place in that trial and it is a sealed deal,’ attorney Joshua Ritter told Fox & Friends on Thursday. ‘That is huge.’
Ritter acknowledged the families’ ‘frustrations’, but insisted the plea was a ‘good deal’ because a jury conviction and capital sentence – which are not guaranteed – could be appealed for years.
‘No trial is guaranteed. Things can go sideways. You never know how things are going to end up,’ he said, adding: ‘You don’t know even if it was a guilty verdict, there’s no guarantee they would’ve even come back with a death verdict.’
Ritter admitted the plea was a ‘shock’ to everyone involved in the case, including the judge.
‘If there is going to be a death penalty, you would think this is the case it’s reserved for and you would have expected this to go to trial,’ he told the broadcaster.
‘But end of the day, when you really consider what a trial means and what the prosecution ended up with here, I do think it was a good deal.’
Former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy echoed Ritter’s sentiment, claiming the plea is ‘defensible’ and ‘explicable in the community’s best interest’.
‘On balance, this is the best result, even for those families, though they may not currently know it,’ Leroy told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports on Wednesday.
While the prosecution had a ‘very strong scientific, circumstantial case’ that Leroy says ‘kept getting stronger’ and would have likely resulted in a conviction, the case would have left everyone suffering for years.
He noted that not only is life imprisonment ‘agreeable to half of the victim families’, but it also ensures immediate justice.
‘Two of the families voted right now for closure and applauded and encouraged the prosecutor with very supportive and sensitive messages,’ he explained.
‘The other two, I can certainly understand, have a biblical, moral approach to an eye-for-an-eye and that’s explicable and understandable too.’
But Leroy insists the plea is the ‘best result’ because the families would have the ‘suffered’ through countless trials and ’15 years of appeals’.
Kohberger’s formal sentencing has been tentatively set for July 23, the week when jury selection would have begun in the case.
Victims’ families will be able to speak. Kohberger will also be offered the chance to explain himself and apologize. But he can choose to remain silent if he wants to, meaning his motive may forever remain a mystery.
Relatives of at least two of the victims attended Wednesday’s hour-long hearing in Idaho’s Fourth Judicial District Court in Boise. The families were divided about the plea deal.
Asked by Judge Steven Hippler how he pleaded to each of the charges, Kohberger, wearing a shirt and tie and seated beside his lawyers, answered, ‘guilty’ in a steady voice, exhibiting no visible emotion.
Kohberger also said under questioning that he was entering his plea freely, he believed it to be in his best interests, was satisfied with his legal counsel and understood the consequences.
At the time of the murders, Kohberger was pursuing a doctorate degree in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, a short distance from Moscow in northwestern Idaho.
Authorities have not suggested a motive for the murders, which occurred during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, in an off-campus house shared by five women.
Three of the roommates – Kernodle, 20; Mogen, 21; and Goncalves, 21 – were found slain inside the house along with Kernodle’s boyfriend Chapin, 20.
All suffered multiple stab wounds from a hunting knife, according to authorities.
Outlining the prosecution’s case, Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson told the court Kohberger planned the violence and purchased the knife online about eight months before the killings.
The knife’s sheath was recovered, but the murder weapon was never found.
Thompson said there was no evidence of sexual assault among the victims or a ‘sexual component’ to the killings.
As evidence Kohberger sought to cover up his crimes, Thompson said investigators found he had meticulously cleaned the inside of his car, which he used as the getaway vehicle.
‘The defendant had studied crime,’ Thompson said. ‘He had done a detailed paper on crime-scene processing… He had that knowledge and skill.’
Kernodle and Chapin had attended a party the night before, while best friends Mogen and Goncalves had visited a local bar and food truck.
All four returned to the house before 2am. Their bodies were found hours later that morning.
Two other roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, survived unharmed.
According to prosecutors, Mortensen told investigators she heard someone crying in one of the victims’ bedrooms and opened her door to see a man, clad in black, walk past her and out of the house.
Authorities said they linked Kohberger to the murders using DNA evidence, cell phone data and video footage. He was arrested weeks after the killings in Pennsylvania, where he was visiting family, and was returned to Idaho to face charges.
The family of Goncalves criticized the plea agreement as a ‘secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families,’ according to a statement.
Her father, Steve Goncalves, said outside the courthouse on Wednesday the four life sentences did not represent justice.
But Mogen’s mother and some other family members said in a statement they ‘support the plea agreement 100 per cent’ as ‘the best possible outcome for the victims, their families and the state of Idaho’.
