The man who pleaded guilty to murdering four students from the University of Idaho wants to withdraw his guilty plea.
Bryan Kohberger told The New York Times in an interview that the plea was based on “false promises and blatant disinformation.”
He initially made the claim to the Times in a statement, writing, “My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn.”
In a follow-up phone interview, he reiterated the allegations and said that he had an “absolute claim of innocence.”
This is the first time he has commented on the case, and he did not provide any evidence or details, the newspaper said.
The Times noted it is rare for defendants to wage a successful challenge after a conviction such as this.
“He would have to show ‘manifest injustice,’” Joshua Ritter, a Fox News contributor and California defense attorney, said. “Essentially his lawyers lied to him.”
In the statement, Kohberger said “justice was not served,” and that it was “circumnavigated by a broken plea,” using the term that is also the title of the book “Broken Plea” that examines the case, Fox News reported.
The book’s author, Chris Whitcomb, did not speak to Kohberger.
Whitcomb suggested in the book that Kohberger may not have understood or participated in the decision to plead guilty, Fox News reported.
Kohberger is serving four life sentences without parole for the murders of four coeds from the University of Idaho.
Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on Nov. 13, 2022.
After a nationwide manhunt, Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology at Washington State University, was captured in Pennsylvania, six weeks after the murders, The Associated Press reported at the time of his sentencing last July.
Investigators matched DNA from a Q-Tip found at his parents’ home with material left on a knife sheath found at the scene of the murders, according to the AP.
The guilty plea brought with it Kohberger waiving his right to appeal, while prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.
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