Bryan Kohberger didn’t understand what he was doing when he pleaded guilty: unsealed memo

Bryan Kohberger’s former attorneys told an Idaho judge before his plea deal that their client struggled to “rationally understand” what was unfolding in court and to make “consequential decisions” concerning his case, including whether to testify in his own defense or to accept a plea deal, according to newly unsealed court filings.

“The memo is pretty clear that there’s a serious issue there that shows different reasons why that plea might not have been accepted,” Kohberger’s new attorney, Greg Rauch, told Fox News Digital. “Those issues have to be flushed out and explored.

Although the memo’s Tuesday release appeared to have surprised him, he said he initially filed it under seal out of an abundance of caution and to avoid running afoul of previous orders in the case. 

Kohberger, a 31-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student, is serving four consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus another 10 years.

Rauch was assigned to his case over the summer and did not represent him as it initially played out.

“In the May 20 [2025] ex parte supplement, counsel advised the Court that Kohberger was having difficulty comprehending adverse rulings and discerning their effect upon the case as a whole,” the newly published memo reads.

“Counsel represented that, despite the accumulation of significant rulings concerning the death penalty, suppression issues, and motions in limine, Kohberger was having difficulty meaningfully incorporating those developments into a rational assessment of the case and its potential outcomes.”

In the memo, which was filed under seal in support of a prior motion to disqualify the judge, Rauch described his goal as not to show that Kohberger was incompetent but to bolster his argument that the judge may be biased.

“Before June 26, [2025,] the Court knew that counsel was asking for additional time not only to review evidence and continue investigation, but also to investigate Kohberger’s ability to rationally understand and make consequential decisions and to obtain expert assistance in communicating with him about whether to resolve the case short of trial,” Rauch wrote to the court in a document that remained sealed for nearly a month.

Kohberger’s original defense team sought more time for an inquiry into his ability to understand the proceedings but “expressly denied” that he was incompetent.

Judge Steven Hippler on Tuesday ordered the Aug. 27 memo to be unsealed after rejecting Kohberger’s reasoning for keeping the document withheld from the public.

“The Court disagrees that the information contained in the Supplemental Memorandum is intimate, protected or will result in harm if disclosed,” Hippler wrote.

“It simply describes in very general terms trial counsel’s concerns about Petitioner’s difficulty in comprehending adverse rulings and understanding their effect on the outcome of the case.”

Kohberger’s former defense team, led by Anne Taylor, had sought more time for discovery as his trial approached last year.

According to the unsealed filing, they were also quietly seeking help for Kohberger to understand the proceedings.

“The Court thereafter denied the requested additional time,” Rauch wrote. “The sealed June 26 Order rejected the need for further investigation and concluded overall that Kohberger had not demonstrated good cause for a continuance or prejudice from proceeding to trial as scheduled.”

In under a week, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges in the murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

He is now trying to undo the plea with a petition for post-conviction relief.

“That sequence does not establish that the pleas were constitutionally invalid,” Rauch wrote.

“But it does identify a factual issue that the PCR court may now have to resolve: whether trial counsel had sufficient time and assistance to ensure that Kohberger rationally understood the circumstances confronting him and could meaningfully participate in the decision to resolve the case short of trial — the very decision counsel had specifically identified to Judge Hippler as requiring continued expert assistance before the continuance was denied.”

According to Rauch, within days of Kohberger’s guilty plea, his former lawyers “expressly advised” the court of their questions about this ability to rationally make the decision to plead guilty.

Six days after the Court denied additional time, that decision was made.