Kohberger Granted Oct. 15 Hearing As Defense Seeks To Disqualify Judge Over Plea Challenge

Bryan Kohberger will return to the Ada County Courthouse on Oct. 15, 2026, for oral arguments as his defense presses to disqualify Judge Steven Hippler from deciding Kohberger’s petition for post-conviction relief, according to court records.

The 31-year-old former criminology student pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the Nov. 13, 2022, stabbings that killed University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Judge Hippler accepted the plea and sentenced Kohberger on July 23, 2025 to four life terms without parole, plus an additional 10 years for a burglary conviction and $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.

Basis Of The Defense Challenge

In a handwritten petition filed in July 2025, Kohberger alleges he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that his guilty plea was not entered "knowingly or voluntarily." The petition claims Kohberger’s attorneys failed to disclose alleged exculpatory discovery and that the plea was induced by unkept promises and threats.

Bryan Kohberger at his plea hearing in July 2025Credit: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty

The defense has asked the court to remove Hippler from ruling on the petition, arguing that it would be an inherent conflict for the same judge who accepted the plea and imposed sentence to decide constitutional questions arising from those proceedings. Defense attorney Jason Goldman told PEOPLE:

"This is not about attacking the Court nor asking for special treatment. It is about ensuring that the serious constitutional questions now before the Court are heard in a forum whose impartiality and neutrality cannot be questioned."

Prosecutors’ Response And Key Documents

Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to dismiss the petition. Central to the dispute is a written factual-basis statement Kohberger signed during the plea process, in which he said he would "hereby admit responsibility" for the four deaths and acknowledged that the killings were "willful, unlawful, deliberate, with premeditation and with malice aforethought." That admission preceded Hippler’s July 23, 2025 sentencing.

Because Kohberger’s plea agreement included a waiver of the right to appeal, post-conviction relief is his primary procedural route to seek a new trial. Legal observers note that if a court ultimately grants a new trial and Kohberger is later convicted again, he could face the death penalty — an outcome his original plea removed as a possibility.

Kohberger claims his lawyer Anne Taylor (at his sentencing hearing in July 2025) was ineffectiveCredit: Kyle Green-Pool/Getty

What To Expect At The Oct. 15 Hearing

The Oct. 15 hearing will be limited to oral arguments on the defense motion to disqualify Hippler. If the judge presiding over the hearing denies the motion, Hippler would likely remain assigned to decide the petition for post-conviction relief. If the motion is granted, another judge would be assigned to hear the challenge to the plea’s voluntariness and counsel’s effectiveness.

It is not yet clear whether Kohberger will appear in person at the hearing; he remains in custody at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise.

Key Dates: Nov. 13, 2022 — murders; July 2025 — Kohberger’s guilty plea and handwritten petition for post-conviction relief; July 23, 2025 — sentencing to four life terms; Oct. 15, 2026 — scheduled oral arguments on the judge-disqualification motion; June 2027 — previously scheduled status conference and evidentiary hearing in the post-conviction matter.