Quadruple Murderer Pleads Guilty to Avoid Death Penalty

Bryan Kohberger, the criminology student charged with the brutal murders of four University of Idaho co-eds in 2022, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for four consecutive life-in-prison-without-parole (LWOP) sentences.  CBS News reports that in a letter delivered prior to Kohberger’s upcoming trial his attorneys asked for the plea deal, which includes a waiver of his right to appeal.  Overwhelming evidence pointed to Kohberger as the person who, early on the morning of November 13, 2022, entered an unlocked home in Moscow, Idaho and stabbed college friends Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21,  and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 to death while they slept.

Over 130 members of the Moscow, Idaho police Department, the Idaho State Police and the FBI joined the manhunt following the murders.  Kohberger was identified as a suspect and arrested at his parent’s Pennsylvania home six weeks later.  Prior to his arrest, investigators placed Kohberger’s car and his cell phone at the crime scene on the morning of the murders and his DNA on a knife sheath found in the bedroom of one of the murdered girls. A roommate of the victims’ reported that she had seen a person matching Kohberger’s size and height in the house on the morning of the murders, but she could not identify his face in the darkness.

After two and one half years of legal maneuvering and delays, Kohberger’s trial was to begin in August, 2025.  It was announced early in the process that the District Attorney intended to seek the death penalty.

Even after the defense received a change of venue, the strength of the evidence resulted in a strong likelihood that a jury would convict Kohberger of the murders and recommend a death sentence. The carefully planned murder of four college students with a knife is exactly the kind of crime that most Americans believe that the death penalty is for.

While Kohberger’s plea bargain will spare Idaho taxpayers from an expensive trial and at least a decade of appeals, it is not surprising that victim Kaylee Goncalves’ family was outraged. “Bryon Kohberger facing life in prison means that he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world.  Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever,” wrote Kaylee’s sister.

Death penalty opponents will never concede that in some cases it is justified. When prosecutors use it as a tool to persuade murderers such as Kohberger to cut a deal which spares his life, it diminishes the quality of justice in a case like this one.