PLEA DEAL REACHED - 4 Univ of Idaho Students Murdered, Bryan Kohberger Arrested, Moscow, Nov 2022 #109

[PunishThenForgive]

Look, I'm not a big fan of AT, and I hate to have to somewhat jump to her defense, but some of these claims are going a bit overboard imo.

AT can not ask for a plea deal without BK's consent. Period. It is completely BK's decision. I guarantee she has consoled BK for many many months (if not years) that his chances of an acquittal are close to zero. Giving her client an honest appraisal of the case against him is also part of her job, and I'm certain AT has been doing this. She's not dumb or incompetent. But ultimately it is BK's decision and if he doesn't want to plea, AT must still represent him to the best of her ability.

All my opinion, but I feel kinda yucky now.

I agree! I think she likely did try to get him to plead guilty—long ago. But he refused. So she was forced to do what she did so her client would not face the possibility of the death penalty—including accusing other people and trying to get the case thrown out. I blame BK for this entirely.

IMOO

 

[MassGuy]

I wonder if his own family had any influence in his changing his mind? Maybe he didn’t want his parents to suffer from his potential execution. IDK. OMTs.

I was talking to the Dateline producer who did the Kohberger episodes earlier. He felt it was his mother who convinced him. Just his sense of the situation.

 

[MassGuy]

Saw this from a prosecutor on Twitter. Good perspective about why the state would do a deal:

For people asking why the state would offer a deal in Kohberger, here's my answer from another thread.

You can have a complicated, long trial that will draw media attention, along with conspiracists, and hopefully get a good jury who understands reasonable doubt and convicts. Then you might get the death penalty or you might have someone who thinks no one should be executed. Then after twenty years of appeals, collateral attacks, and crack pot innocence campaigns, he might be executed, assuming he doesnt die first or it get outlawed or his conviction overturned on a technicality. Or he can plead guilty, waive all appeals, and rot in prison.

 

[wendy44]

My opinion, the case against him was very solid, especially considering the gag order and we don't know the bulk of it. But the IGG is an issue someone is going to take to the higher courts for 4th amendment and if I were the prosecution that would worry me. I'm glad it's not going to be this case that takes it. I think they did the right thing.
JMO

 

[AngTxGal]

Disagree. He's spending the rest of his life behind bars, probably always looking over his shoulder.

Agree, he doesn’t strike me as a guy with a lot of charisma. My guess is his status in prison is not going to be high. He attacked four young women while they slept, was caught and took a plea deal.

Will see what happens if he is mixed with general population

 

[wendy44]

I was talking to the Dateline producer who did the Kohberger episodes earlier. He felt it was his mother who convinced him. Just his sense of the situation.

I think Howard Blum has hinted at this as well.

 

[10ofRods]

MOO and thoughts while trying to process no trial. Prosecution could've take the DP off the table, but still go on with the trial. Yes, it would've been hard on the families and the victim witnesses, and yes, it would've been a big public trial costing a lot of money. Just got to say, for any who have watched an entire murder trial and heard all the evidence, etc., there's a sense of real and fair Justice once the verdict is read and sentencing occurs. Sometimes, the defendant's criminal character and intent, and motive, becomes apparent in the trial proceedings. MOO, just not sure the families of these murdered children will feel that sense of any real Justice happening.​

Why would the Prosecution do that? Wouldn't it have been perceived by some that they didn't think he was guilty and that they were backing down?

THe cost to Idaho is a valid factor. There were only two possible sentences for these crimes and he got 4 consecutive life sentences. Life without parole.

And he admitted he was guilty. He admits he did it - which, I think, is a very good outcome for the families. The verdict still gets read, it is now on record - he says he did it.

More killers should do this, IMO. For all we know, he has glimmers of conscience. He wants to spare his own family. I think some of the family members did not want to hear the details again at trial (this is based on interviews given some time ago).

The system itself is real and fair. It should be the case that guilty people can so state. To me, that's fair. Saying you didn't do something when you actually did, and then sitting and waiting for others to prove that you did it is to me, the opposite of fairness.

I do believe that at least one of the families did not want the DP nor did they want to continue their grief through the trial process.

IMO he threw himself on the mercy of the court and did so when he realized the new Judge was not brooking any nonsense and that the witnesses brought in today (Friday) were going to be damning.

Again, JMO.

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1939870927996821716

 

[Swansee]

Wait so does this mean we'll never get any answers?
I really wanted to know, why that house, why those victims, how long had he planned this for... I was hoping at least some of that would be answered at trial.

 

[Arkay]

I’m so curious about the inner workings of AT simply because of her going after the case. At what point does she ‘herself’ mentally make the switch. She fought to have the case so she obviously starts out that way.

My guess is that her motions were increasingly farfetched after Judge Hippler denied the majority of them. IMO she was reaching into some lunatic theories already, she knew she’d gone as far as she could go, she realized the evidence against him was always strong and all her efforts went nowhere. The judge would not indulge her in these fantasy motions.

It was time to face reality and spare him the DP.

I agree with @Tricia ——-I hope he tells us why he murdered all four.

Mainly I hope all four families, no matter how they feel about this plea, will at least in time derive some feeble comfort from him admitting to it after all this time. And of course that he will be locked up until his natural death.

JMO

 

[10ofRods]

I was talking to the Dateline producer who did the Kohberger episodes earlier. He felt it was his mother who convinced him. Just his sense of the situation.

Great bit of intel. That makes total sense. I think he did want to spare his own family, at least.

It's over. And we should be able to get access to the investigative files and all that sometime in the near future. I think that's likely enough for the poor families (all of them).

 

[kalekona]

Washington State- not The University of Washington (UW) my daughter when to Wazzu so knowing the area this case had personal feel to it for me.

 

[Luna20]

Remember when she (seemingly) sincerely proclaimed that she and her team firmly believed in his innocence a year or so ago?!? Was she lying? Did she change her mind? I don't know.

In the last nine days she said that she believes that he hasn’t killed anyone so she asked about bringing in other possible suspects. It happens but this is different due to the way she has acted.

Hmmm, I wonder if he played her and she fell for it. He smiled at her every time he walked in to court.

 

[Cedars]

Do the families get to speak in court? It does seem very hasty to get all four families and others impacted to get to Idaho and prepare themselves.

There isn't even a date set for the trial. Depending on circumstances, at trial he may provide an explanation/confession (like Wagner did in Ohio) or just listen to the prosecution read out the details of each crime and state 'guilty' (like the Golden State Killer did).

Then, at least a couple months later, there will be a day for sentencing. There will be lots of time for victim impact statements before the judge announces the sentence.

 

[Shadowtrix]

Wait so does this mean we'll never get any answers?
I really wanted to know, why that house, why those victims, how long had he planned this for... I was hoping at least some of that would be answered at trial.

Eventually, I'd expect a lot more information to come out through inevitable FOIA requests once the case is fully adjudicated and closed.

 

[PunishThenForgive]

I wonder if his own family had any influence on his changing his mind? Maybe he didn’t want his parents to suffer from his potential execution. IDK. Only a thought.

I hope so—then maybe he could someday feel remorse for what he did to Ethan, Xana, Kaylee and Maddie.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I wonder if his own family had any influence on his changing his mind? Maybe he didn’t want his parents to suffer from his potential execution. IDK. Only a thought.

I had that thought, too. At least one sister was suspicious of his involvement before his arrest, so not everyone in the family is blinded by the family ties. His parents could have asked him to spare THEM a trial or worse, the firing squad death of their son.

 

[gremlin444]

My opinion, the case against him was very solid, especially considering the gag order and we don't know the bulk of it. But the IGG is an issue someone is going to take to the higher courts for 4th amendment and if I were the prosecution that would worry me. I'm glad it's not going to be this case that takes it. I think they did the right thing.
JMO

BBM

That is a good point. Now, since the IGG info in this case was eventually only going to be allowed to come in as "a tip" from the FBI with no mention of the IGG itself, any escalation of general usage of IGG issue up the chain might not have been able to blow back on this case. But I'm sure it is something that always was in the back of the prosecution's mind, perhaps if this case had gone to appeals after the issue had been further restricted by higher courts.

 

[sunshineray]

I believe this was his plan all along. Let it drag out to achieve as much infamy as he could.
Now he will go to prison and become a jail house legal aid. Inmates will flock to him to get his legal advice. Making offers of Little Debbie cakes and Hygiene products. Doing his laundry among other things. JMO. SMH!

He could also get an unexpected visit from a shiv-ver too, you never know.

 

[wendy44]

Saw this from a prosecutor on Twitter. Good perspective about why the state would do a deal:

For people asking why the state would offer a deal in Kohberger, here's my answer from another thread.

You can have a complicated, long trial that will draw media attention, along with conspiracists, and hopefully get a good jury who understands reasonable doubt and convicts. Then you might get the death penalty or you might have someone who thinks no one should be executed. Then after twenty years of appeals, collateral attacks, and crack pot innocence campaigns, he might be executed, assuming he doesnt die first or it get outlawed or his conviction overturned on a technicality. Or he can plead guilty, waive all appeals, and rot in prison.

This kind of reminds me of a case here in Virginia--Roger Coleman. There was a lot of media about him being wrongfully convicted and an innocent person set to be convicted, a Time Magazine cover, etc. Honestly, I believed it. This was early 1990s, no social media, no home computer. I did believe they executed an innocent person. Later, I did my own research and looked at the actual facts and started to realize I thought he was guilty. And then our governor agreed to dna testing (a lot of governors won't so I really admired that) and it was proven he was guilty.

I really hope that BK has to or agrees to at least reveal the location of the knife and it can be recovered because I'm not sure some people will believe he's guilty without it.
JMO