Bryan Kohberger, convicted of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in 2022, is now asking a court to remove the judge overseeing his post-conviction case and to move proceedings out of Ada County. The motions were filed Thursday by his new court-appointed attorney, Gregory Rauch.
According to Fox News, Kohberger pleaded guilty last year to four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary charge in the deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. He is now seeking to withdraw that plea and be granted a trial, even though doing so could expose him to the death penalty. Kohberger is 31 years old.
The motion targets Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler, who presided over the original criminal case. Rauch's filing asks that Hippler be disqualified from the post-conviction proceedings on the grounds that he cannot be impartial.
The motion makes clear that the argument is not based on any single ruling or statement. "This motion does not rest upon one adverse ruling, one harsh statement, or the mere fact that the judge who presided over Bryan Kohberger's criminal case has been assigned to his post-conviction proceeding," the motion states. "It rests upon the extraordinary convergence of all of them."
A central issue in the motion concerns statements Hippler made at sentencing. The filing references a moment in which Hippler questioned Kohberger's honesty. "Do we really believe, after all of this, he is capable of speaking the truth?" he said, according to the document. Hippler also called Kohberger a "faceless coward" and "the worst of the worst."
Rauch's motion argues those words go beyond a judge's ordinary role in sentencing. "Those statements are fundamentally different from believing Kohberger committed terrible crimes or deserved severe punishment," the motion states. "They are forward-looking judgments about his credibility. And credibility may now be at the center of this proceeding."
Kohberger has claimed he is innocent and has blamed his former defense team for leading him to make what he describes as a false confession. The motion also raises questions about whether his trial counsel was adequately prepared. Defense lawyers argued that the capital trial schedule made it impossible to fully review the volume of evidence in the case, and that proceeding under those conditions would have violated Kohberger's right to effective representation.
Hippler previously rejected that argument, accusing the defense of using the size of the discovery record as a delay tactic rather than raising a genuine concern.
Although the original trial was moved to Ada County in 2024 to ensure an impartial jury and sufficient resources, Kohberger's current attorneys argue those reasons do not apply to a post-conviction bench proceeding decided by a judge alone. The motion for a change of venue follows from that argument.
No date has been set for the court to rule on either motion.