Plea expected at hearing on Wednesday
- Victims were stabbed at off-campus house
- Idaho students were in their early 20s
(Updates throughout)
By Jasper Ward
June 30 (Reuters) - Former criminology graduate student Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to killing four Idaho college students in 2022, a move that would spare him the death penalty under a deal with prosecutors, ABC News reported on Monday.
Kohberger, 30, was pursuing a doctoral degree in criminal justice at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, about 8 miles (13 km) across the border from Moscow, Idaho, where the four victims attended the University of Idaho.
In a case that drew national attention, Kohberger previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges. The three young women, who had been roommates, and a young man, who was the boyfriend of one of the women, were fatally stabbed in an off-campus house where the women lived on November 13, 2022.
Citing a letter from prosecutors to victims' families, ABC News said Kohberger agreed to four consecutive life sentences and has waived his right to appeal.
The letter said prosecutors expect Kohberger to be sentenced in late July if he enters the guilty plea as planned at a hearing on Wednesday.
"This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family," the letter said, according to ABC News.
"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."
Kohberger's trial was expected to start on August 18. His attorney and the Idaho attorney general's office did not immediately comment. A court administrator had no information to release.
The crime stunned the small college town of Moscow. Kohberger was arrested weeks later in Pennsylvania, where he was visiting his family, and flown to Idaho to face charges.
The victims - Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho - all suffered multiple stab wounds. Chapin was Kernodle's boyfriend. Two other women in the house at the time survived.
Responding to the plea agreement, Goncalves' family said on Facebook: "It's true! We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho. They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected. We appreciate all your love and support."