Bryan Kohberger’s new lawyers share three shocking updates on Idaho murders case

A hearing has been set for June 2027

49 minutes ago

Ellissa Bain | Entertainment

Bryan Kohberger has got a new team of lawyers following his request to withdraw his guilty plea, and they’ve shared some updates on the case.

The 31-year-old is currently serving four consecutive life terms at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna after pleading guilty to murdering four University of Idaho college students at their home in November 2022. Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, and Xana Kernodle were fatally stabbed at their house in Moscow.

In July 2026, Kohberger filed a petition to withdraw his guilty plea from behind bars at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, alleging it was made on “false promises and blatant disinformation”.

A judge set a June 2027 court hearing for Kohberger to present his argument, and he’s been building up his legal team ready for it. Here are the latest updates from them.

Bryan Kohberger’s lawyer alleges people don’t know the ‘full story’

New York-based criminal defence lawyer Jason Goldman has recently been hired, and he alleged to People that everyone doesn’t know the “full story” of the case.

He’s not in Death of the Pastor’s Wife, so where is Mica Miller’s first husband Jeremy Deas now?

All of the intense videos from Lily Phillips’ ‘gloryh*le’ stunt, including gross before-and-after

A month on, here’s the relationship status of every single Love Island 2026 couple

Goldman said he would “simply caution against assuming that everything the public believes it knows about this case tells the complete story” and added: “There remain serious questions about how this case reached its present posture and a hearing will provide an appropriate forum to address those issues”.

Credit: Netflix

The new legal team have asked to replace the case’s judge

Another new lawyer on the team, Greg Rauch, has filed a request to disqualify the judge on the case and get a new one for the hearing. Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four life sentences without parole in July 2025 and famously called him a “faceless coward” and “the worst of the worst,” which the legal team argued shows his bias.

Explaining the decision, Goldman told People: “This is not about attacking the Court nor asking for special treatment. It is about ensuring that the serious constitutional questions now before the Court are heard in a forum whose impartiality and neutrality cannot be questioned.”

He claimed that for this reason, “it would be an inherent conflict for the same presiding judge to decide these very issues”. The legal team allege that Hippler denied their request for extra time to prepare for trial.

They want the hearing moved back to where the murders took place

They have also asked for the hearing to be moved from Ada County back to Latah County, where the murders took place. The proceedings were moved there in 2024 to ensure an impartial jury.

The motion obtained by People says: “Transfer is warranted in a case like this where ‘the convenience of witnesses and the ends of justice would be promoted by the change.”