POLITICS: Family of victims furious over Bryan Kohberger’s plea deal – USSA News

A man who killed four University of Idaho students in 2022 has accepted a plea deal that spares him the death penalty, triggering outrage from the family of at least one of the victims.

As previously reported, four University of Idaho students — Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves — were found stabbed to death at their off-campus rented home on November 13th, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho.

Weeks after the murders, a suspect — Bryan Kohberger — was arrested in late December of that year.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, of Scranton, PA is the suspect in the Idaho massacre

Reportedly a PhD student in Criminology at Washington State University in nearby Pullman pic.twitter.com/b3kwy2wC6M

— Jack Poso (@JackPosobiec) December 30, 2022

Three years later, Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison without parole, according to a letter sent by Moscow Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson to the victims’ families. Kohberger has also agreed not to pursue an appeal.

“We cannot fathom the toll that this case has taken on your family,” the letter reads, according to the Idaho Statesman. “This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family.”

“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,” it continues.

The letter outraged the family of Kaylee Goncalves,

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“It’s true! We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,” the family wrote on Facebook this Monday. “They have failed us.”

In an additional Facebook post, the family revealed that they’d told the prosecution last Friday that they were staunchly against the prospect of a plea deal for Kohberger. Then, two days later, they received the letter from Thompson.

“We immediately jumped into panic mode and started making phone calls and sending emails,” they explained. “We met with prosecution AGAIN today to reiterate our views on pushing for the death penalty. Unfortunately, all of our efforts did not matter. We DID OUR BEST!”

Goncalves’ sister, Aubrie, also released a statement.

“The introduction of this plea deal, just weeks before the scheduled trial, is both shocking and cruel,” she wrote. “Had this proposal come a year and a half ago, the families could have had time to process, discuss, and potentially come to terms with the idea of a life sentence—however difficult that may be.”

“Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world. Meanwhile, our loved ones have been silenced forever. That reality stings more deeply when it feels like the system is protecting his future more than honoring the victims’ pasts,” she added.

Meanwhile, Goncalves’ father, Steve, told the Statesman that there’s “no equivalent” for a murder besides the death penalty. The more people a murderer kills, he added, the more he deserves the death penalty, “as the only option.”

Speaking with NewsNation, he added that the guilty plea was “anything but justice.”

(Video Credit: NewsNation)

The other families involved appear to be handling the plea deal slightly better.

“For Ben Mogen, Madison’s father, the plea deal wasn’t as upsetting,” the Statesman reported. “He [said] that if avoiding a trial means his family can avoid reopening wounds that they’ve already worked toward healing, then he accepts the agreement.”

Kohberger is scheduled to formally plead guilty on July 2. He’ll then likely be sentenced to life in prison sometime later this month.

Edwina Elcox, a criminal defense attorney and former Boise prosecutor, told the Statesman that had Kohberger gone to trial and lost, he would have very likely received the death penalty.

“These are dice I would not want to roll with a client,” she said. “Maybe you get an anti-death penalty juror, but also you may not.”