A new attorney has been appointed to represent Bryan Kohberger in his bid to withdraw his guilty plea to the 2022 murders of four Idaho college students.
Kohberger, 31, pleaded guilty to killing University
of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, at an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, as part of a controversial deal to avoid the death penalty. He instead received four life sentences without the possibility of parole and a 10-year sentence for burglary in July 2025.
On Aug. 3, Idaho attorney Gregory Rauch was assigned to represent Kohberger as he pursues a petition for post-conviction relief, according to court records.
USA TODAY has reached out to Rauch. The attorney told Fox News Digital he had not yet read Kohberger's petition and plans to speak with him over the phone and then visit him in prison to discuss the case.
In the petition, Kohberger said he did not knowingly or willingly plead guilty because he was "induced by unkept promises" and "threats" from his previous legal team. He said his attorney at the time grossly misrepresented the "horrific" conditions he would face on death row and made false promises about what his time serving life in prison would look like.
"Petitioner was convinced that actual guilt was not an important factor in considering plea acceptance: death row was imminent, and advised to lie, petitioner was to gain a 'legal victory' in entering a false plea," Kohberger wrote in the handwritten petition obtained by USA TODAY.
Kohberger said his previous attorney also failed to tell him about a piece of potentially exculpatory evidence obtained during the plea negotiations: that clumps of unknown hair were found in Chapin's hands.
An FBI report included in court filings said debris from Chapin's right hand and bags placed around both of his hands "were examined for hairs microscopically consistent with" hairs taken from Kohberger, "however, none were found." Meanwhile, an independent review of DNA evidence by an expert witness for the defense lists three hairs found on or near Chapin's hands at autopsy that were "morphologically consistent" with Chapin's own hair.
A person who answered the phone at the office of Kohberger's former attorney previously declined to comment on the allegations in his petition. Legal experts have previously told USA TODAY Koherger faces an "uphill battle" to take back his guilty pleabased on ineffective assistance of counsel.
After Kohberger filed his petition, Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in a statement his office "stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryan Kohberger gets new attorney in bid to withdraw guilty plea
