Bryan Kohberger to plead guilty to killing 4 University of Idaho students, multiple media report

BOISE Idaho AP Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty multiple media outlets revealed Monday The news was delivered to families of the casualties in a letter from prosecutors according to ABC News A change of plea hearing was set for Wednesday Kohberger s trial had been set to begin in August Kohberger is accused in the stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin Xana Kernodle Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near campus in Moscow Idaho in November Autopsies evidenced the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked chosen had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times Goncalves family expressed outrage in a Facebook post We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho They have failed us Please give us several time This was very unexpected Kohberger then a criminal justice graduate trainee at Washington State University was arrested in Pennsylvania weeks after the killings Investigators disclosed they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath exposed at the crime scene In a court filing his lawyers announced Kohberger was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed The killings shook the small farming locality of about people which hadn t had a homicide in about five years The trial was moved from rural northern Idaho to Boise after the defense expressed concerns that Kohberger couldn t get a fair trial in the county where the killings occurred In the letter to families cited by ABC prosecutors announced Kohberger s lawyers approached them seeking to reach a plea deal The prosecutors revealed they met with available family members last week before deciding to make Kohberger an offer This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family the letter explained This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted will spend the rest of his life in prison and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice In Idaho judges may reject plea agreements though such moves are rare If a judge rejects a plea agreement the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea Earlier Monday a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defense attorneys would have to expedition to Idaho to appear at Kohberger s trial The defense subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger s and a third man whose significance was not explained A gag order has largely kept attorneys investigators and others from speaking publicly about the research or trial