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Bryan Kohberger says his family was involved in plea discussions as he seeks to undo his guilty plea, newly released court documents obtained by Fox News Digital reveal.
The convicted killer, who pleaded guilty to stabbing and killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, recently filed a petition for post-conviction relief seeking to withdraw the guilty plea he entered last year in exchange for prosecutors dropping the death penalty.
In his handwritten petition filed on Monday, he wrote that “members of Kohberger’s immediate family” were present during attorney-client discussions.
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Kohberger claims that he was “convinced to falsely confess,” claiming his high-profile defense team of Anne Taylor, Elisa Massoth and Bicka Barlow didn’t tell him about “exculpatory discovery” — evidence mentioned in the recent “Broken Plea” book but never vetted in court.
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In a message to the New York Times, Kohberger claimed that “justice was not served” and that it was “circumnavigated by a broken plea.”
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“Broken Plea” is the title of a recent book about the case that shed new light on what the defense may have looked like at trial — and his use of the term surprised author Chris Whitcomb, who says he had never spoken to Kohberger.
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Whitcomb told “Crime & Justice” podcast host Donna Rotunno on Thursday he has never communicated with Kohberger or any member of his family, and Whitcomb has no information on whether Kohberger or any of his family members read the book.
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As for his petition, Kohberger claims his attorneys misrepresented what Idaho’s death row would be like.
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He alleges one attorney told an elaborate story about personally “touring an actual 8-foot-by-8-foot death-row cell,” which Kohberger said was “fabricated.”
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He said this information was communicated to him and his family and was used to frighten or pressure him into accepting the plea deal.
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On Wednesday, Ada County District Judge Steven Hippler granted Kohberger’s request for court-appointed counsel, directing the Idaho State Public Defender to appoint a new attorney to represent him in all post-conviction proceedings.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Kohberger’s former defense team.
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