A new chapter is unfolding in the Bryan Kohberger case, as the convicted killer has been granted another court date in his dramatic attempt to undo his guilty plea and face a trial for the 2022 University of Idaho murders.
According to court records, Kohberger and his legal team are set to appear before a judge on October 15 in Ada County. The hearing will focus on their efforts to remove Judge Steven Hippler from overseeing the post-conviction proceedings.
Hippler previously sentenced Kohberger to four life terms without parole after the former criminology student admitted to stabbing four students—Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves—in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, back in November 2022.
The October hearing comes just months after Hippler scheduled a separate status conference and evidentiary hearing for June 2027, signaling a long road ahead.
In a handwritten affidavit filed this summer, Kohberger reportedly claimed his former defense team misled him and his family about the strength of the evidence before he entered his guilty plea in July 2025. He alleged that coercion, false promises, and withheld information pushed him into a plea he now says was invalid.
Kohberger’s current attorneys are also pushing to have Hippler removed from the case, citing remarks made during sentencing that they argue show bias. They want the proceedings moved from Ada County to Latah County, hoping to escape the intense media spotlight that has made finding an impartial venue difficult, according to local reports.
Prosecutors have already filed a motion to dismiss Kohberger’s bid, pointing to his own written admission of responsibility as a major obstacle. In that document, Kohberger reportedly acknowledged that the killings were willful, deliberate, and premeditated.
His original plea deal spared him the death penalty but required him to waive his right to appeal. If he succeeds in overturning the plea and is later convicted at trial, he could face capital punishment, sources claim.
What happens next could reshape the entire case—and the families are watching closely.
