Bryan Kohberger plea deal updates: Idaho victims’ families arrive at court as murder suspect set to plead guilty – UK Times

The family of Ethan Chapin has arrived at the Ada County Courthouse ahead of the plea deal hearing, which is set to start at 11 a.m. MT.

Ethan’s mother Stacy Chapin and father Jim Chapin were seen walking into the courthouse.

The father of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four Idaho University students who was killed in the stabbings, said he plans to protest the plea deal outside of the courthouse.

“I’ll stay outside during the hearing to protest the deal made with our child’s killer, and not with the families,” Steve Goncalves told Fox & Friends via text message

The Goncalves family is vehemently opposed to the plea deal.

Reporters and the public have been waiting to enter the Ada County courthouse this morning.

People have been waiting as early as 4 a.m. local time.

The hearing is due to begin at 11 a.m. MT.

The family of Kaylee Goncalves has penned an impassioned plea to Judge Hippler ahead of the plea deal hearing today, asking that he compel Bryan Kohberger to “spill the truth” of what happened on the night of the killings.

The family said they have been “robbed” of their day in court and are vehemently opposed to the plea deal.

They attacked Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson of “cutting a deal with the devil” in the statement released just a couple of hours before Kohberger is expected to appear at the courthouse.

“Only Hippler can step into this void, mend the wreckage Thompson left in Latah so-called justice system,” the statement said.

“This is our last shot: Judge Hippler, you are our only hope that our child murder isn’t granted control over his destiny in our children’s names. You take control of this deal and make it right because now you OWN IT!”

Bryan Kohberger’s family is expected to attend today’s plea deal hearing.

They issued a statement asking for privacy.

“We will continue to allow the legal process to unfold with respect to all parties, and will not release any comments or take any questions,” the family said. “We ask that you respect our wishes during a difficult time for all those affected.”

If Bryan Kohberger takes the plea deal, as he is expected to do at today’s hearing, Judge Hippler will likely set an official date for sentencing.

The hearing, which will happen at a later date, could last all day and is a chance for the families to share impact statements.

It would also be an opportunity for Kohberger to provide a statement.

In November 2022, four University of Idaho students were found stabbed to death at a rental house in Moscow, mere hours after posting smiling photographs together on Instagram.

The case shocked the small college town and drew media attention from across the world. Yet it took nearly seven weeks for police to catch a suspect — and almost three years to bring him to trial.

Now, mere weeks before former PhD criminology student Bryan Kohberger was set to go before a jury, prosecutors have told the victims’ families they have agreed a plea deal.

Kohberger, 30, is expected to receive four consecutive life sentences and waive all his rights to appeal when he appears in court today to answer for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.

Io Dodds details a timeline of one of the most bewildering cases in recent American history.

The proposed plea agreement reportedly signed by Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson outlines a deal that would convict Bryan Kohberger on four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.

It would sentence him to spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the Idaho Statesman.

“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,” the letter reads, according to the newspaper.

Further details of the agreement have not been made public.

Some of the victims’ families have expressed their anger that the deal did not include any provisions that would compel Kohberger to confess details of the alleged crime when he appears later today.

In December 2022, Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger was arrested after his apartment, office and family home were raided and searched for evidence.

A grand jury indicted Kohberger on four counts of first-degree murder and one burglary charge, effectively rerouting the case directly to the state’s felony court level and allowing prosecutors to skip the preliminary hearing process.

A trial was initially set for October 2023 but was postponed when Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial.

After more than two and a half years, Kohberger’s trial was scheduled to start on August 18. Now Kohberger is instead expected to take a plea deal to avoid the death penalty in exchange for pleading guilty to the four murders and serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kohberger will likely be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences and waive all right to appeal, per ABC News.

Here, The Independent takes a deep dive into the developments in the complex case…

There is a slim possibility Bryan Kohberger could enter an Alford plea if he wanted to maintain his innocence, but it’s unlikely.

“The benefit of the Alford plea is for a defendant who feels that they’re innocent but wants to take the deal,” University of Idaho associate law professor Samuel Newton told CNN.

“It has the same result as a guilty plea. It’s just the defendant themselves is not going to say that they did it,” Newton said.

The professor added that it seems unlikely that prosecutors would have agreed to a plea deal without assurances from the defense that Kohberger would take responsibility for the killings.