Bryan Kohberger is expected to plead guilty in the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, just weeks before his highly anticipated trial begins.
On Monday, sources told NewsNation’s Brian Entin that the prosecution had proposed dropping the death penalty in exchange for Kohberger’s guilty plea to the four murders and burglary.
The agreement would allow Kohberger to spend the rest of his life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
ABC News reported that the 30-year-old will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and is expected to waive all appeal rights.
A family member of one of the victims told the Idaho Statesman that they received a letter confirming the plea agreement. A hearing on Kohberger’s change of plea is scheduled for Wednesday, July 2.
Kohberger is accused of murdering Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves on November 13, 2022. They were discovered stabbed to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.
A little more than a month later, Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania after police linked him to the crime scene using DNA from a knife sheath, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Investigators said Kohberger’s location was traced using his cell phone and surveillance video, which showed a car that appeared to be the same make and model as his driving away from the murder scene.
The long-awaited trial was set to begin on August 18 after Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense’s motion to delay it.
On Monday evening, the family of one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, issued a statement on Facebook criticising the reported plea deal.
“It is true! We are beyond furious with the state of Idaho. They’ve failed us. Please give us some time. This was extremely unexpected. “We appreciate all of your love and support.”
A judge in Pennsylvania earlier Monday ordered three people whose testimony had been requested by defence attorneys to travel to Idaho for the trial.
The defence subpoenas were granted for a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood friend of Kohberger’s, and a third man whose significance was unclear.
The killings shocked the rural Idaho community of Moscow and neighbouring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State.
