Can Bryan Kohberger Legally Take Back Guilty Plea Now That He Says He's Innocent? Attorney Weighs In

Four students at the University of Idaho—Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves—were fatally attacked inside an off-campus home on King Road in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022. Bryan Kohberger, who was a PhD student studying criminology at the nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was ultimately charged with the crimes. For more than two years after, he and his legal team maintained his innocence. Right before his case was set to go to trial in the summer of 2025, he reversed course and accepted a plea deal. In exchange for pleading guilty to the four counts of first degree murder and a felony burglary charge—the death penalty and the right to make an appeal—were taken off the table. He was instead slapped with four life sentences plus ten years. A year later, Kohberger now says he’s innocent, and in a statement to the New York Times, claimed that in the case of “State v. Kohberger, justice was not served.” This week, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief in an attempt to abandon his guilty plea. Criminal defense attorney John W. Day joined “Forbes True Crime” to explain the move.

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