Kohberger Says His Lawyers Made Him Confess, Now He Wants the Judge Gone, Russell Brand's Trial Opens, a Split Verdict in Tennessee

Bryan Kohberger, 31, who pleaded guilty in July 2025 to murdering University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin and is serving four consecutive life sentences, now says he was convinced to falsely confess and that his court-appointed lawyers failed him. On Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m., Judge Steven Hippler will hear a motion asking him to disqualify himself from the post-conviction case, filed Aug. 27 by Kohberger's new court-appointed attorney Greg Rauch, which argues Hippler's sentencing remarks — calling Kohberger a faceless coward and saying he could find nothing good or intrinsically human about him — show bias. Prosecutors answered Oct. 7 that harsh sentencing remarks are not bias and that the motion must show the judge is biased; they have separately asked the court to dismiss the petition without an evidentiary hearing. An amended petition is due Nov. 13, four years to the day after the killings. Also: Russell Brand's trial opens at Southwark Crown Court; he denies all seven charges. And a Clarksville, Tennessee, jury convicted former paramedic Matthew Konen of first-degree murder in the death of David Rodgers and of criminally negligent homicide in the death of his wife, Rachel Konen. Garret Fisher reports.

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