Prosecutor Bill Thompson is weighing in on criticism after Bryan Kohberger received a plea deal for his role in the Idaho college murders.
“I think that we did our job, and we had the opportunity to do it in a way to really give some immediate finality, which wouldn’t have happened if we had to go through trial,” Thompson, who has been the Latah County Prosecutor since 1992, told The Idaho Statesman in an interview published on Wednesday, July 30.
“We’re pleased and relieved that the community and the victims’ families aren’t going to have to continue to live through this, and relive this during a trial,” he added.
Kohberger broke into the residence at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022 and fatally stabbed four college students — Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin — while they slept. He left a knife sheath containing his DNA behind in the house, leading to his arrest a little over one month later.
Kohberger initially pleaded not guilty, but earlier this month, Kohberger pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary as part of a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. Kohberger was sentenced to four lifetimes in prison without the possibility of parole.
Thompson told the publication that he and his team would have sought the death penalty had the case gone to trial in August.
“This certainly was a case where the death penalty was appropriate,” Thompson told the publication. “If we ended up going through trial into a penalty phase, I think under the law it met the elements.”
If Kohberger’s case had gone to trial, Thompson was confident that the prosecution would have been able to convict.
“Our thought is that this case is on track for trial, and if that’s where it goes, that’s where it’s going to go,” he explained. “And we’re going to do our best job to present everything that we believe is legally relevant to help the jury make that decision.”
He also addressed past comments made by Moscow Police Corporal Brett Payne, who stated that police would have connected the case to Kohberger even without his DNA on the forgotten knife sheath.
“There are a lot of white Hyundai Elantras out there,” Thompson said, referring to the car Kohberger drove to the crime scene. “But if they stuck with it, eventually they would have found Mr. Kohberger’s car and made that preliminary connection.”
Read the full article here
