Court records show that on Monday, July 27, Bryan Kohberger, convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022, submitted a petition for post-conviction relief to the Ada County District Court in Idaho, seeking to withdraw his guilty plea agreement reached in July 2025 and requesting a new trial.
Such petitions allow the defendant to question the conviction on grounds of ineffective defense counsel and other suspected legal or constitutional errors after sentencing. The petition for post-conviction relief is not equivalent to a request to “revoke a guilty plea agreement,” but revoking the guilty plea agreement may be one of the outcomes sought in the post-conviction relief application.
In a statement released on Sunday, Kohberger, 31, wrote, “Due to a flawed guilty plea agreement that derailed the case, the trial has never provided the public with enough truth to truly settle the matter; unless this guilty plea agreement is revoked, judicial injustice will persist. … I am indeed innocent, that is my truth; and this guilty plea agreement built on false promises and blatant misinformation must be revoked.”
He also claimed in the statement that investigators’ description of the murder case was a “myopic narrative” and “fabricated out of thin air,” arguing that the “incorrect foundation of inference was never questioned during the trial.”
Court records indicate that Kohberger chose to represent himself.
Prosecutors allege that on November 13, 2022, Kohberger broke into a rental property near the University of Idaho campus and stabbed four students to death.
At the time of the incident, Kohberger was a doctoral student in criminal justice at Washington State University nearby. Police records detailed various misconduct by Kohberger during his time at the university, including allegations of intimidating classmates and making female students feel “unsafe.”
The murder case shocked the local community, causing widespread fear and concern. Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022, where his family resided.
According to prosecutors, DNA evidence found on a sheath near one of the victim’s bodies, cellphone data, and surveillance footage of Kohberger’s car linked him to the crimes.
Kohberger reached a guilty plea agreement in July 2025. The guilty plea agreement was announced a few weeks before his murder trial was set to begin in August 2025. Kohberger admitted to killing four University of Idaho students – Madison Mogen (21), Kaylee Goncalves (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Ethan Chapin (20) – inside a residence in Moscow, Idaho in November 2022.
While Kohberger admitted to the murder charges during the plea hearing, he never publicly explained his motive for the crimes.
The guilty plea agreement allowed him to avoid the death penalty and a highly publicized trial. He was subsequently sentenced to four life imprisonments without parole and 10 years for burglary.
In response to Kohberger’s withdrawal of the guilty plea agreement, the Goncalves family stated in a statement on July 27 that “the criminal has said nothing more than once again claiming his innocence… and has not uttered a word suggesting that he did not ‘knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently’ admit to murdering the four victims in this tragic incident.”
The Goncalves family also expressed that “the defendant will appear in court again, which is a rare breather for him, allowing him a temporary respite from solitary confinement, to go out, eat different food, take some photos, divert everyone’s attention back to him, and reaffirm his ‘innocence.'”
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador stated that his office is “ready to take all necessary measures to ensure justice is fully served.” He extended his deepest condolences to the families of Madison, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan, acknowledging the unimaginable loss they have endured and the profound pain of today’s developments.
Kohberger’s family stated that he initially did not want to leave his fate to a jury but sought to avoid a possible death penalty sentence through the guilty plea agreement; they are prepared for any subsequent trial and have confidence in the evidence supporting Kohberger.
According to Idaho law, the defendant must file a petition for post-conviction relief within a specific timeframe. Kohberger chose to formally submit this application on the eve of the deadline (before September 2026).
(This article was based on a report by “USA Today”)