Bryan Kohberger files a petition to challenge his guilty plea and conviction - NBC News

What the report says

NBC News reports that Bryan Kohberger, who was convicted in the 2022 killings of four University of Idaho students, filed a petition Monday in Ada County District Court seeking post-conviction relief. The filing is an attempt to challenge his conviction outside the ordinary appeals process and withdraw the guilty plea he entered in July 2025. Court records cited by NBC indicate Kohberger is representing himself.

According to court documents obtained by NBC News, Kohberger claims his defense attorneys were ineffective and says he was persuaded to admit guilt to crimes he now says he did not commit. NBC reports that he alleged he was advised to enter what he described as a false plea and that “actual guilt” was not treated as central to the plea decision. His former lawyers did not immediately respond to NBC’s requests for comment.

Kohberger admitted last year to killing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022. He received four consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder and an additional 10-year sentence for burglary. NBC noted that, although he told a judge he broke into the house and killed the students, he has not publicly explained a motive.

The filing follows similar innocence claims Kohberger made in an interview with The New York Times, NBC reported. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said his office was prepared to act to ensure the sentence is carried out, while the Goncalves family criticized renewed attention on Kohberger and said the development forces the victims’ families to confront the case again.