The relatives of the Idaho murder victims are bitterly divided over Bryan Kohberger’s plea deal, which came at the 11th hour and was a shock even to the judge.
Two families have slammed the deal for allowing him to avoid the death penalty, while the other two breathed a sigh of relief that the case never has to go to trial.
Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Madison Mogen, 21, on November 13, 2022.
He made the bombshell admission at Ada County Court in Boise, Idaho, while sitting meters away from the heartbroken families who have waited years for justice.
The plea deal was approved by Judge Steven Hippler, who was then inundated with calls from angry members of the public asking him to reject Kohberger’s cowardly agreement.
Hippler hit out at observers who had tried to influence his decision making, slamming it as ‘inappropriate’. ‘My role is to ensure the defendant’s plea is given voluntarily,’ Hippler said, adding that he only learned of the agreement on Monday.
Several relatives of the victims broke down in tears in the courtroom – as did Prosecutor Bill Thompson when he read out the victims’ names.
The Goncalves and Kernodle families have said the plea pact means they will never have justice for their children who he brutally stabbed to death in one of the most horrific events ever to unfold on a college campus.
Kaylee’s family issued a statement blasting the prosecutor’s office for making ‘a deal with the devil’ and spoke of their sense of betrayal over the backroom agreement.
‘This ain’t justice, no judge presided, no jury weighed the truth,’ they wrote.
‘(Prosecutor Bill) Thompson robbed us of our day in court. No negotiations, no jury of our peers, not even the pretense of cooperation and fairness.’
‘Instead, Thompson cut his deal with the devil, his negotiations didn’t require anything other than a simple guilty plea,’ their statement added.
‘Allowing him the leeway to blame the same people you are paid to protect. You betrayed us, Thompson.’
Goncalves’ father, Steve, said outside the courtroom on Wednesday that he wanted to see Kohberger admit that ‘he did it on his own and nobody else was responsible’ so he would no longer have ‘supporters’.
‘He’s not going to take accountability,’ the anguished father added.
When asked whether he thought four life sentences was justice, Goncalves said: ‘No, of course not.’
Over the past two years, the Goncalves family has publicly supported Kohberger receiving the death penalty if convicted of the murders.
Steve was involved in pushing to pass the state law to make firing squad a legal method of execution, while some of their other loved ones have worn pro-death penalty shirts to court hearings.
Kernodle’s aunt, Kim, has echoed similar views. TMZ said she was so furious when she heard about the plea deal that she broke down in tears.
She hit back against prosecutors’ claims that the deal was brokered partly to spare the victims’ families from the pain of the trial.
Kernodle said they have already seen the gruesome pictures of the crime scene. ‘We know the graphics. They were not trying to spare us,’ she said.
But for the family of Maddie Mogen, news of the deal came as a relief, because they wanted to move on with their lives while Kohberger never escapes jail.
‘If you get that quick death sentence, you don’t have to spend decades thinking about how terrible you made the world,’ Maddie’s father, Ben Mogen, told CBS News.
‘We can actually put this behind us and not have these future dates and future things that we don’t want to have to be at, that we shouldn’t have to be at, that have to do with this terrible person,’ he added.
‘We get to just think about the rest of lives and have to try and figure out how to do it without Maddie and the rest of the kids.’
Maddie Mogen’s mother and stepfather, Karen and Scott Laramie, also said via a statement through their attorney that they supported the deal.
Their attorney, Leander James, said that they were in favor of the agreement ‘100 percent’ as he spoke on their behalf outside Ada County Court on Wednesday.
Ethan Chapin’s parents, Stacey and Jim, also said they supported the deal in a brief statement, but did not elaborate on their reasons.
They appeared at Kohberger’s plea hearing along with Goncalves and Mogen families, as each sat meters away when their childrens’ killer coldly pleaded guilty to ending each of their lives. Kernodle’s family did not attend the hearing.
Kohberger stared straight ahead and showed no sign of emotion as he admitted stabbing the happy college students to death in their off-campus home.
The chilling hearing saw Kohberger break his silence in court for the first time, and he spoke only to answer in the affirmative when Judge Steven Hippler asked if he was guilty of the crimes, and whether he understood the terms of the plea agreement.
When asked whether he was pleading guilty because he is guilty, he said: ‘Yes’.
Kohberger will be sentenced for his heinous crimes over two days at Ada County Courthouse from July 23. The court will also hear heart-wrenching victim impact statements from the victims’ families.