The man who pled guilty last summer to the murder of four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13, 2022 has been granted court-appointed counsel to fight the charges once again.
Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler on July 29 granted Kohberger’s request for legal help. Hippler gave the green light for the Idaho State Public Defender to appoint an attorney to represent Kohberger in all post-conviction proceedings.
The order comes less than a week after Kohberger filed a handwritten petition for post-conviction relief seeking to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in July of 2025 in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table.
While appointing a public defender for Kohberger, there is no guarantee a trial could come about it.
Kohberger claims among other things that he was “convinced to falsely confess” and alleged his defense attorneys – Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Bicka Barlow – failed to disclose what he described as “exculpatory discovery,” referring to evidence discussed in the recent book “Broken Plea” that was never brought to bear in court.
Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were found dead in the home the three women rented in Moscow, Idaho. Chapin was the boyfriend of Kernodle. Two other residents of the home, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were unharmed at the time of the killings.
Kohberger avoided a trial in the case last year, pleading guilty in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
While I have always thought Kohberger had some involvement in the deaths, I still to this day believe others played roles too.
So, should Kohberger get a trial? If so, do you think there would be enough evidence to once and all convict him?
DavidAlanThomas 