Newly unsealed court records reveal that Bryan Kohberger’s former defense attorneys questioned whether he could rationally grasp what was happening in his murder case and make critical choices about how to defend himself.
Kohberger, 31, previously studied criminology at Washington State University. He pleaded guilty to killing University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin inside a Moscow, Idaho, home.
After initially denying responsibility, Kohberger made a dramatic change of course in July 2025 when he admitted to the killings. He is serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The latest details became public Tuesday after Judge Steven Hippler directed that a previously sealed memorandum be unsealed.
Kohberger’s new attorney, Greg Rauch, told Fox News Digital that the memorandum clearly raises questions about why the guilty plea may not have been accepted at the time.
“Those issues have to be fleshed out and explored,” Rauch said.
The filing says Kohberger’s attorneys informed the court on May 20, 2025, that he was having trouble processing unfavorable rulings and understanding how they affected the case overall.
His former defense team, led by Anne Taylor, requested more time and help from specialists. The attorneys said they needed to examine whether Kohberger understood the legal proceedings and could make “consequential decisions” about his defense.
“Counsel advised the Court that Kohberger was having difficulty comprehending adverse rulings and discerning their effect upon the case as a whole,” the newly released memorandum states.
Bryan Kohberger, shown in a selfie taken hours after the killings, is now seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. The unsealed memorandum details concerns from his lawyers that he may not have fully understood the court proceedings shortly before entering the plea in 2025.
Kohberger pleaded guilty to killing Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves and Xana Kernodle at an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
Kohberger entered 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, where Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were killed.
In the memorandum, which had been filed under seal as part of an earlier request to remove the judge from the case, Rauch said his aim was not to prove that Kohberger was incompetent. Instead, he said the information supported his argument that the judge may have been biased.
The questions surrounding Kohberger’s ability to understand the charges surfaced as the case moved closer to what was expected to become a closely watched murder trial.
The defense had asked for additional time to assess Kohberger’s mental competency. On Thursday, June 26, 2025, however, Judge Hippler rejected the request.
The newly unsealed filing says the court found that Kohberger had not demonstrated good cause for delaying the case or shown that he would be prejudiced if the trial proceeded as planned.
Six days later, on Wednesday, July 2, Kohberger brought the anticipated trial to an end by pleading guilty.
At the plea hearing in Boise, Judge Hippler repeatedly questioned Kohberger to determine whether he understood the decision he was making.
“Do you feel like you are thinking clearly today?” the judge asked.
“Yes,” Kohberger answered.
Hippler then asked whether anyone had threatened him or anyone close to him to make him plead guilty.
Kohberger left this brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene of the murders
‘No,’ Kohberger said.
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The judge asked whether anyone had promised him anything beyond the plea agreement.
Again, Kohberger answered: ‘No.’
And when Hippler asked the fundamental question – ‘Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?’ – Kohberger answered: ‘Yes.’
He then pleaded guilty to each of the four murders and the burglary charge.
The judge ultimately found that Kohberger understood the charges and the possible consequences of his plea and that his plea was given ‘freely, voluntarily, and was intelligently made.’
That courtroom exchange will now become significant as Kohberger attempts to undo the conviction.
The saga had begun nearly three years earlier when Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were killed on November 13, 2022 inside a rental home near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow.
Kohberger – now known as inmate number 163214 – has already filed a string of complaints behind bars in the prison
Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022, and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
For more than two years, he maintained his innocence while his lawyers challenged the prosecution’s evidence and fought over issues including the death penalty.
His guilty plea meant there would be no murder trial.
On July 23, 2025, Judge Hippler sentenced him to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 10 years for burglary.
At the time, the plea appeared to bring the case to an end but more than a year later, Kohberger began trying to undo it.
On Monday, July 27, 2026, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and challenge his conviction.
Kohberger alleged that his former lawyers pressured him into accepting the plea and claimed he had been ‘convinced to falsely confess.’ Those are allegations made by Kohberger and have not been established by the court.
His new attorney, Greg Rauch, filed the memorandum under seal on August 27, 2026. It remained sealed until Tuesday, when Hippler ordered it released.
Bryan Kohberger previously moved to have Judge Steven Hippler disqualified from his case after Hippler termed him a ‘faceless coward’ as he continues to try and retract his guilty plea in the murders of four University of Idaho students
The filing does not establish that Kohberger was legally incompetent when he pleaded guilty. His original defense lawyers expressly denied that he was incompetent.
Instead, it reveals that they had concerns about whether he could fully understand the rapidly changing circumstances of his case and make rational decisions about how to proceed.
Rauch wrote that the sequence does not itself establish that the pleas were constitutionally invalid, but said it raises a factual issue for the post-conviction court: whether Kohberger’s lawyers had enough time and assistance to ensure that he understood the circumstances confronting him and could meaningfully participate in the decision to resolve the case without a trial.
For now, Tuesday’s disclosure does not change his convictions or sentences and Kohberger remains imprisoned under four consecutive life sentences without parole.
His attempt to remove Judge Hippler from the post-conviction proceedings is scheduled for a hearing on October 15, 2026, while a potential evidentiary hearing has been set for June 2027.
Whether the concerns raised by Kohberger’s former lawyers before his guilty plea are ultimately enough to affect his conviction will now be decided through those proceedings.