BOISE, Idaho (Reuters) -A man charged with stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in 2022 pleaded guilty on Wednesday to first-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors that spares the former graduate student in criminal justice the death sentence.
Bryan Kohberger, 30, previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and burglary charges in a gruesome multiple homicide in 2022 that stunned the small college town of Moscow in northwestern Idaho and drew national media attention.
The plea agreement, as outlined in court by the judge, calls for Kohberger to be sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison and to waive his rights to appeal or seek reconsideration of the sentence.
Relatives of at least two of the victims attended Wednesday’s court hearing, which began at 11 a.m. MT (1 p.m. ET/1700 GMT) in Boise, the Idaho state capital. According to news media accounts, the families were divided about the plea deal.
Kohberger, who has remained in pre-trial custody since his arrest more than two years ago, was due to return to court for formal sentencing on July 23-24.
Under questioning from the judge, Kohberger stated that he was pleading guilty as charged to four counts of first-degree homicide and a charge of felony burglary.
He also asserted that he was doing so freely, believed it to be in his best interests, was satisfied with his legal counsel and understood the consequences of his plea.
Answering “yes,” to a series of questions from the judge, he also admitted to committing each of the crimes.
At the time of the killings, Kohberger was pursuing a doctorate degree in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, a short distance from Moscow, where the four victims were undergraduates at the University of Idaho.
The murders occurred during the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, in an off-campus house shared by five women.
Three of the roommates – Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho – were found slain inside the house along with Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington.
All suffered multiple stab wounds, according to authorities.
The family of Goncalves, in a statement through their attorney, criticized the plea agreement as a mishandled, “secretive deal and a hurried effort to close the case without any input from the victims’ families.”
Asked outside the courthouse prior to Wednesday’s hearing whether he believed the four life sentences provided justice in the case, the victim’s father, Steve Goncalves, said, “No, of course not. It’s daycare. Prison is daycare.”
(Reporting by Matt McKnight and Eric Cox in Boise, Idaho; Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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