The admitted murderer Bryan Kohberger plans to file for post-conviction relief after pleading guilty to killing four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion attack, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Kohberger plans to argue that he had bad counsel. Court records show he filed a petition for post-conviction relief Monday, but the filing itself was not immediately available.
The New York Times was first to report this story after Kohberger California-based defense attorney and Fox News contributor. "Essentially his lawyers lied to him."
One hypothesis floated in Whitcomb's book is that Kohberger may not have fully understood or meaningfully participated in the decision to plead guilty.
Kohberger is serving four consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole plus another 10 years for the Nov. 13, 2022 murders of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves after pleading guilty in July 2025.
As part of the plea deal, he waived his right to an appeal — and Monday's filing caught some of the victims' relatives by surprise.
"I didn't think he could do that, since that was part of the stipulation in the first place — he wasn't going to be able to do that," said Cara Northington, Kernodle's mother.
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