A month before the scheduled start of his murder trial for the 2022 killings of four Idaho college students in their off-campus home, defendant Bryan Kohberger admitted his guilt and entered a plea deal that removes the possibility of the death penalty. At Wednesday morning’s hearing before state district Judge Steven Hippler in Boise, Idaho, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all five counts in the indictment.
Kohberger, a 30-year-old former PhD student of criminology, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in Latah County, Idaho, where the gruesome discovery in a Moscow home first captured national attention. The plea deal – which at least one victim’s family has condemned – ends a tumultuous case that included a cross-country hunt for the suspect and a lengthy legal battle, including several attempts by the defense to have the charges dismissed or the death penalty taken off the table.
On the burglary charge, Kohberger will face a sentence of 10 years. He will face a life sentence each of the four counts of first degree homicide. All five counts will run consecutive to one another. Kohberger waived his right to appeal the plea and sentence, and to seek leniency and reconsideration of the sentence later.
0:00 Kohberger admits to the murders
1:28 Bill Thompson, Latah County, Idaho Prosecuting Attorney, reads the factual basis for the prosecution had the case gone to trial
15:43 Thompson concludes his summary
16:38 Kohberger enters a guilty plea for each count
17:25 Judge Steven Hippler, Ada County, Idaho Judicial Court, accepts Kohberger’s guilty plea
20:44 CNN correspondent Jean Casarez describes the scene in the courtroom
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