Bryan Kohberger changes his mind. Son wants mother's killer back in court. Plus, Missing in America.

Dateline NBC

In a shocking twist, Idaho murderer Bryan Kohberger has filed a post-conviction petition claiming he was coerced into his guilty plea, asserting innocence and alleging ineffective counsel. His request for a new trial rei

Key takeaways

• Bryan Kohberger filed a petition claiming he was coerced into pleading guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students; he now asserts innocence

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Good morning, everybody. It's the start of another workday for the Dateline team. So this story is developing it's right outside of Dallas. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. I am very curious about the motive. He has real doubts about it himself. They check her safe and that gun is gone. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's July 30th and here's what's on our docket. In Kansas, a former Marine was convicted at trial of stalking his estranged white. and then strangling her. Now, her son wants to put him on trial again. The son has pointed out that Brian was stalking Monica and not giving her a moment of peace. In Dateline Roundup, a judge weighs in on the prosecution's case against TikTok singer David. And emotions run high at the trial of the former labor and delivery nurse accused of murdering her three children as her ex-husband takes the stand. You could see how emotional it was for him. You know, he seemed to have trouble breathing at times. Plus, Josh Mankowitz will be here with a preview of his latest season of missing in America and why you should listen. If somebody hears this, thinks that maybe I know something about this, it could make all the difference. But before all that, we're heading to Idaho for a stunning development in the quadruple murder case that gripped and terrified the nation. It has been a little over a year since Brian Koberger's stood before a judge and pleaded guilty to the murders of four University of Idaho students. Kaylee Gonzalez, Madison Mogan, Ethan Chapin, and Zana Kernodle. Did you, on November 13, 2022, enter the residence at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, with the intent to commit the felony crime of murder? Yes. In return for his plea, the prosecutor agreed to drop the death penalty, and Kohberger was sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences, at a maximum security prison just outside of Boise. The judge had these final words for him. The time has now come to end Mr. Kohberger's 15 minutes of fame. It's time that he'd be consigned to the ignominy and isolation of perpetual incarceration. Now, it appears, Kohberger has changed his mind. This week, he filed a petition with the court asking, essentially, for a do-over. He says he was coerced into the guilty plea, that he is innocent, and he wants a trial. Here to help us understand what this could mean for the case and the families is Dateline producer Shane Bishop, who has covered this story from the beginning. Welcome back to the podcast, Shane. You bet. Hi, Andrea. Hey, Shane, before we get into what Koberger is claiming in this petition, let's rewind the clock. What evidence, Shane, did investigators say they had to zero in on Koeberger? Well, the key piece of evidence was a drop of blood found on a knife sheath that detectives said the killer left near the body of Madison Mogan. Analyst then used DNA and genetic genealogy to link Kohberger to the knife sheath. And a search of Kohberger's computer record showed that he'd purchased a K-bar knife and a sheath just months before the murders. Kohberger pleaded guilty just a few weeks before trial. The victim's families had mixed feelings about that. We heard some emotional testimony at his sentencing. Let's take a listen. He is a hollow vessel, something less than human, a body without empathy, without remorse. He chose destruction. He chose evil. He feels nothing. You'll sit with it long after this is over. That is your sentence. And it was written on the wall long before you ever pled guilty. You didn't win. You just exposed yourself as the coward you are. Then, fast forward a year, here comes this petition. How much of a surprise was this to you, Shane? Well, I think it came as a complete shock. It certainly did to me. Although in my experience, it's hardly uncommon for convicted killers to arrive at a state prison to serve their life sentences. And before long, realized that forever is a long time, especially in a situation like Koberger finds himself in because he's in protective custody because of his notoriety. And he's locked down 23 hours a day. Yeah, I didn't even realize he was in protective custody. Shane, walk us through this petition that he filed. I think Koeberger's most startling claims have to be that he is actually innocent. and that he was pressured by his defense attorneys to falsely confess to these murders. Koeberger writes in his petition that his counsel told what he calls elaborate lies to him about life on death row and promised him that a life sentence would mean a number of things, including immediate contact visits, freedom of movement inside the prison, and employment. None of those are allowed when you're in the restrictive housing or protective custody like he is now. And the last thing Kovberger claims is that his attorneys failed to disclose what he calls exculpatory evidence. So just to be clear, Shane, exculpatory means evidence that Koberger is saying could prove his innocence. Does he go into detail about what this evidence is that he's talking about? He does. He mentions in his petition that his attorneys didn't tell him about, quote, clumps of unknown hair found in Ethan Chapin's hands, end quote. Okay, so we really first heard about this hair from a book written by a former FBI agent who didn't work on this case. It's called Broken Plea. Shane, break it all down for us. The author says he interviewed a defense expert named Brent Turvey, who believes that this hair, Coburg is referring to. And I should be clear, this hair has been variously described as a clump, a wisp, a strand, or even just as debris found in Ethan's hands. Turvey claims that this is all proof that more than one killer was involved. When the book came out, Kohbergers' former defense team pushed back, telling the Idaho statesman, that Turvey was speaking on topics outside of his area of expertise. We know from other cases, Shane, that we've covered, that it takes a lot to undo a guilty plea like this. It's extremely rare, right? Almost unheard of. Yeah, Andrea, Idaho Criminal Rule 33C says that once a person is convicted, a petitioner has to prove a manifest injustice occurred to set aside a plea after sentencing. Maybe the plea wasn't voluntary. Maybe it wasn't entered into knowingly or in intelligently, or the petitioner can claim there was inadequate representation. Seems like Koeberger has maybe been reading some law books in prison. Does he mention ineffective assistance of counsel at all in this petition that he wasn't represented properly, which seems to be the crux of this, right? Yeah, that's exactly what he argued. But one veteran Idaho defense lawyer I spoke to believes it's going to be tough sledding for him. Lead attorney Ann Taylor and her team filed dozens and dozens of motions on Koeberger's behalf, and that defense attorney told me, quote, they pulled out all the stops. They did everything that could have been done on Coburger's behalf. We should say we've reached out to Coburger's former defense attorney, Ann Taylor, to see what she thinks of all this. And at the time we're taping this, she has not responded. So, Shane, what is next for Coburger now that he has filed this? The original judge who took the plea, Stephen Hippler, will look at this post-conviction petition. He'll decide, yes, Brian Coburger will have an evidentiary hearing, or no, he won't. If the judge says no, Kovberger can then take it to Idaho's Supreme Court. But it seems like any answer on this is months or more likely years away. How have the families reacted to all of this now? You know, finally they were getting some peace. He pled guilty. And now