By TMZ | Created at 2026-07-30 17:27:35 | Updated at 2026-08-03 11:02:50
3 days ago
Bryan Kohberger Read His Handwritten Letter Slamming Ex-Lawyer, Blaming Them For Life Sentence
Published July 30, 2026 9:50 AM PDT
Bryan Kohberger handwrote his plea to withdraw his guilty plea … as he makes move to toss his life sentence for the murders at the University of Idaho, TMZ has learned.
TMZ obtained the petition filed by Kohberger, who is currently locked up in an Idaho prison serving a sentence of life without parole, claiming his trial lawyers were “ineffective.”
In the paperwork, Kohberger alleged he entered his plea in the case “not knowingly or voluntarily” because “he was induced by unkept promises.”
He claimed his former lawyer insisted that his plea in court not be truthful, despite his vehement denial of actual guilt.
Kohberger said he was pressured to lie and enter a guilty plea in order to avoid death row.
He said there was a gross misrepresentation of, and promises regarding what a life sentence would immediately afford him, and a gross misrepresentation of death row in Idaho, including an “elaborate fabricated story” of counsel’s horrific experience touring an actual death row cell, all communicated to Kohberger and his family by lawyers in order to pressure him to enter a plea.
As TMZ previously reported, Kohberger pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin
