An Idaho-based victim stabbed “angry” after accused killer of strike deals to avoid execution
Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murder four Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, a family member of the victim said Monday.
Shanon Gray, the attorney representing the Kaylee Goncalves family, confirmed that his clients were upset about the deal by email and letter earlier that day.
“We're very angry about the situation in Idaho,” Goncaves' family wrote in a Facebook post. “They failed us. Please give us some time. It was a very surprising.”
Gray said a plea hearing was set on Wednesday, but the families asked prosecutors to postpone it to give them more time to travel to Boise. Kohberger's trial is scheduled for August.
Kohberger, 30, was charged in November 2022 with stabbing deaths in Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen.
Kohberger, a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killing. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from scabbards found at the crime scene.
In court documents, his lawyer said Kohberger himself had been killed for a long time.
The killings shocked small agricultural communities of about 25,000 people, and had no homicide in about five years. The defense expressed concerns that Koberg would not be able to conduct a fair trial in the county where the murders occurred, which moved from northern Idaho to Boise.
Prosecutors said Kohberger's attorneys sought connections with them to reach a plea deal, in a letter obtained by ABC News. Prosecutors said they met with available family members last week and then decided to make an offer to Koberg.
“This resolution is our sincere effort to seek justice for your family,” the letter said. “This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in jail and cannot pass decades of conviction, appeal, appeal. Your view is heavily stressed in our decision-making process, and we hope you can believe that we are in the best interest of justice for this resolution.”
In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, although such a move is rare. If the judge refuses the plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.
Earlier Monday, a Pennsylvania judge ordered three people required by defense attorneys to go to Idaho to appear in court in Kohberger's trial.
The defense subpoena was awarded a boxing coach who knew Kohberger's childhood acquaintance and a third person who was unexplained as a teenager.
Glecting orders largely make lawyers, investigators and others speak publicly about investigations or trials.
