A court hearing that was due to examine Bryan Kohberger’s attempt to overturn his guilty plea for the murders of four University of Idaho students has been abruptly cancelled, with no explanation made public.
Kohberger, 31, had been due to appear by video before Judge Steven Hippler on Thursday. The hearing was expected to focus on his new lawyers’ application for the judge to be removed from the case.
The defence has alleged that Judge Hippler displayed bias through his handling of the proceedings, including refusing to delay the trial and making critical remarks about Kohberger during sentencing. Prosecutors have opposed the application, arguing that a judge must form strong views when imposing a sentence.
The hearing was vacated by Judge Hippler on Tuesday. Two further hearings, including a status conference and an evidentiary hearing listed for June 2027, were also cancelled.
An amended order setting out the future timetable was added to the court docket, but had not been publicly released. Requests for information from the court, prosecutors and the defence had not received a response.
The family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the victims, said they had not been told that the hearing had been cancelled or why it had been called off.
Jason Goldman, a New York lawyer representing Kohberger’s family, said the delay “simply marks the start of a longer post-conviction relief process”.
Kohberger seeks to withdraw guilty plea
The cancelled hearing would have marked Kohberger’s first appearance in court since he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in July 2025.
He pleaded guilty that month to killing Goncalves and Madison Mogen, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20. The students were found dead at a house in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November 2022.
Kohberger had spent more than two years fighting the charges after his arrest at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania. He was later accused of being linked to the crime scene by DNA found on a knife sheath.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors abandoned the possibility of seeking the death penalty and Kohberger agreed to waive his appeal rights. He has since made a sudden attempt to withdraw his plea, claiming he is innocent and wants the case to proceed to trial.
In a petition filed in July, Kohberger alleged that his original defence team had provided ineffective assistance and misled him into accepting the agreement. He has since been assigned a new lawyer, Gregory Rauch.
Rauch’s application to remove Judge Hippler cited comments made during the sentencing hearing, when the judge described Kohberger as a “faceless coward” who had “slithered” into the students’ home and “senselessly slaughtered” them.
The judge also questioned whether Kohberger could be believed if he offered an explanation for the killings. “Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how can anyone truly believe that what he says is the truth?” he said.
The defence has argued that such remarks amounted to “forward-looking judgments about his credibility”. “And credibility may now be at the center of this proceeding,” Rauch said in the filing.
Rauch has also claimed that Judge Hippler proceeded towards trial despite the defence saying it needed more time to prepare, partly because of Kohberger’s “difficulty comprehending adverse rulings and discerning their effects upon the case as a whole”. The request was rejected on 26 June 2025, six days before Kohberger pleaded guilty.
Latah County prosecutors, led by Bill Thompson, have rejected the allegations of judicial bias. They said the “very nature of sentencing… requires a trial judge to form strong opinions and convictions” before imposing an appropriate punishment.
Kohberger’s family has supported his attempt to secure a trial, saying it wants “the complete and unvarnished truth” to be established. His new defence lawyer has until 13 November, the fourth anniversary of the killings, to submit an amended petition seeking a new trial.
