A man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death has reportedly reached a plea deal to spare him of the death penalty.
Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plea guilty to all counts in the killings, according to a letter to the victims’ families obtained by ABC News.
Kohberger’s trial was scheduled to start on August 18.
The family of victim Kaylee Goncalves was notified of the plea agreement, according to their lawyer, Shanon Gray. They wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon that they were ‘beyond furious at the State of Idaho’.
‘They have failed us,’ they stated.
‘Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.’
Kohberger allegedly stabbed the students in their off-campus home in the small college town of Moscow in November 2022.
He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
The plea deal would take the death penalty off the table, and require Kohberger to waive his right to appeal.
‘We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,’ states the letter signed by Moscow Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson.
‘This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family.
‘This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals.’
Kohberger is expected to appear for a change of plea hearing in court on July 2.
If Kohberger enters a guilty plea as expected, he will most likely be sentenced to life in prison in late July, the letter states. If he does not, the trial will move forward.
The victims – Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Ethan Chapin, 20 – were murdered around 4am on November 13, 2022.
Kohberger was a criminology PhD student at nearby Washington State University and arrested about six weeks after the murders at his parents’ home in the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
