Bryan Kohberger claims there was an “exculpatory discovery” in his case before he admitted to slaughtering four Idaho college pals — and he should be allowed withdraw his guilty plea and have a new trial.
In a handwritten affidavit filed by the convicted killer himself, Kohberger claimed his lawyers misled him and his family about the evidence before he copped to the heinous crimes.
Kohberger claimed “coercion, disinformation, false promises, and the withholding of exculpatory discovery” pushed him to enter a bogus guilty plea last year, according to the legal petition obtained by the New York Times.
The petition mentioned “clumps of hair” found in the hands of 20-year-old Ethan Chapin, who was slaughtered along with his girlfriend Xana Kernodle and roommates Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen in Moscow, Idaho.
Lawyers also intimidated him with “fabricated” horror stories of “an actual 8X8 death row cell,” Kohberger claimed — suggesting that he was told his life in prison would be better if he pleaded guilty.
Kohberger — who had been a PhD criminology student at the nearby Washington State University — was asked multiple times during his plea hearing in June 2025 whether he admitted to the crimes, and he said yes.
The plea deal spared the 31-year-old from a possible execution by firing squad — but it also meant he wouldn’t have to explain his motive for the cold-blooded crime.
Prosecutors presented a mountain of proof against Kohberger, including genetic material, camera footage, and eyewitnesses testimony from the surviving roommates.
But there is legal precedent for withdrawing a guilty plea if a defendant can prove they agreed to it because of bad advice from ineffective counsel.
Overturning the deal could be a victory for the families of Goncalves and Kernodle, who criticized prosecutors for denying them the answers that would have come out in a trial.
Goncalves’ father Steve Goncalves said his family told prosecutors they did not want a plea bargain for Kohberger, but that they went ahead with it anyway.
However, the families of Chapin and Mogen both supported the deal, explaining they wanted to avoid a painful bombshell trial which would have generated weeks of wall-to-wall national coverage.
