Idaho prosecutors are pushing back hard against Bryan Kohberger’s new legal team, accusing the lawyers of running a “fishing expedition” in hopes of finding fresh grounds to undo his guilty plea in the murders of four University of Idaho students.
Deputy Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scholl made the accusation in a written response opposing Kohberger’s request for more time to file an amended petition for post-conviction relief. “Unfortunately for [Kohberger], that is not how discovery in post-conviction proceedings works,” Scholl wrote.
The current deadline for that amended filing is Nov. 13 — exactly four years after the killings in Moscow that shook the small Latah County college town.
What Kohberger’s Team Wants
Kohberger’s lawyers say the Nov. 13 deadline would force them to permanently give up any legal claims not included in the amended petition, since it falls before discovery deadlines set for next year. They want access to discovery materials before locking in their arguments.
Legal analyst Randolph Rice, a Maryland-based attorney following the case, said that’s not how the process is meant to work.
“Post-conviction discovery is supposed to assist you and your lawyers in proving a legitimate constitutional claim, in this case, ineffective assistance of counsel,” Rice said. “It isn’t supposed to be a fishing expedition to help you invent a new one. You don’t get to throw a fishing net into the discovery ocean and hope you pull up a constitutional violation.”
The Case So Far
Kohberger pleaded guilty on July 2, 2025, to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the stabbing deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
A year later, he filed a self-produced, handwritten motion for post-conviction relief, claiming he had ineffective counsel and was misled into pleading guilty by his former defense attorneys.
Judge Steven Hippler subsequently appointed new counsel for Kohberger and set the Nov. 13 deadline for that legal team to file an amended version of the handwritten petition.
Prosecutors have also moved to dismiss Kohberger’s original handwritten petition outright, though that motion is not expected to succeed since his lawyers are likely to replace it with the amended filing.
Fights Over Venue and the Judge
Separately, Kohberger’s lawyers have filed a motion to remove Judge Hippler from the case, citing concerns about potential bias, and are seeking to move proceedings back to Latah County, where the killings occurred.
The case had previously been moved out of Latah County to Ada County at the request of Kohberger’s earlier defense team, which cited concerns about a fair trial in the community where the crimes happened.
Notably, both the Latah County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Kohberger’s new lead attorney, Greg Rauch, are based in Moscow, the Latah County seat.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to both prosecutors and Kohberger’s legal team for further comment.
