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July 27, 2026 / 4:49 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Bryan Kohberger, the man serving multiple life sentences for the murders of four University of Idaho students, is challenging his conviction. Kohberger, a former criminal justice doctoral student, filed a petition for post-conviction relief Monday, court records show. CBS News has requested a copy of the petition. Kohberger is representing himself.Kohberger first revealed he had filed the petition in an interview with The New York Times, which reported that Kohberger is claiming he was misled into confessing. Kohberger pleaded guilty last July to the 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. He was sentenced to four life sentences without the possibility of parole. The murders and search for the suspect drew national attention in November 2022. Kohberger's arrest in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, was announced more than a month after the murders. Kohberger's guilty plea was part of a deal that spared him from the death penalty. At a hearing in July 2025, Kohberger answered "Yes" when Judge Steven Hippler asked if he murdered Chapin, Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves. When Hippler asked, "Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?" Kohberger said, "Yes." The evidence prosecutors said they would have brought against Kohberger if the case had gone to trial included DNA linking him to a knife sheath found at the crime scene. The weapon has never been recovered.
