Bryan Kohberger waived his appeal rights but plans on pursuing post-conviction relief: sources

The admitted murderer Bryan Kohberger plans to file for post-conviction relief after pleading guilty to killing four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion attack, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Kohberger plans to argue that he had bad counsel. Court records show he filed a petition for post-conviction relief Monday, but the filing itself was not immediately available.

The New York Times was first to report this story after Kohberger called a reporter directly and claimed that he has an “absolute claim of innocence” in his first public remarks outside the courtroom.

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“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” he told the outlet.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador told Fox News Digital his office is “ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out.” 

“My heart goes out to the families of Madison, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan, who have already endured unimaginable loss and now must face today’s deeply painful news,” he said. 

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Labrador’s office assisted Latah County prosecutors in defeating virtually all of Kohberger’s pretrial motions seeking to suppress evidence in the case, which resulted in his guilty plea weeks before hew would have gone to trial and faced the potential death penalty if convicted.

In his message to the Times, Kohberger claimed that “justice was not served” and that it was “circumnavigated by a broken plea.”

“Broken Plea” is the title of a recent book about the case that shed new light on what the defense may have looked like at trial — and his use of the term surprised author Chris Whitcomb, who says he had never spoken to Kohberger.

“He would have to show ‘manifest injustice,’” said Joshua Ritter, a California-based defense attorney and Fox News contributor. “Essentially his lawyers lied to him.”

One hypothesis floated in Whitcomb’s book is that Kohberger may not have fully understood or meaningfully participated in the decision to plead guilty.

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Kohberger is serving four consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole plus another 10 years for the Nov. 13, 2022 murders of Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves after pleading guilty in July 2025.

As part of the plea deal, he waived his right to an appeal — and Monday’s filing caught some of the victims’ relatives by surprise.

“I didn’t think he could do that, since that was part of the stipulation in the first place — he wasn’t going to be able to do that,” said Cara Northington, Kernodle’s mother.

This is a breaking news story. Stick with Fox News Digital for updates.

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