Bryan Kohberger's Parents, Sisters Support Him Despite Quadruple Murder Conviction

Bryan Kohberger's family has his back as the convicted killer wages a legal battle to withdraw his guilty plea in a quadruple murder.

Kohberger's family attorney, Jason Goldman, tells TMZ ... Bryan has the support of several members of his family, including his parents and sisters, with whom he's been in contact from prison.

As you know, Kohberger cut a 2025 plea deal with prosecutors in which he copped to the murders of 4 University of Idaho students. In 2022, the killer broke into an off-campus home, where most of the victims lived, and fatally stabbed them as they slept in the wee hours. Because he confessed and agreed to a life sentence, prosecutors took the death penalty off the table.

Now, Kohberger is saying he's innocent and has filed motions to erase his guilty plea and set aside his conviction, indicating his original lawyers coaxed him into confessing, prior to bringing on Goldman as counsel.

Kohberger said his previous lawyers failed to disclose or review exculpatory evidence and had made promises about what life in prison would look like, including details about visits and employment. These pledges coerced him into a plea that he otherwise had zero intention of accepting. 

It is expected that with a future filing, which will serve as the operative appeal motion, Kohberger will further support the claim that his plea was built on falsehoods and promises relayed to him about what life in prison would look like as a non-death row inmate. 

Similar to the filing, sources familiar with the situation tell us Kohberger's lawyers at the time coerced him, allegedly telling him that he would be much better off as a lifer in prison than a death row inmate, who wouldn't receive any of the perks.

Our sources also said Kohberger's attorneys told him that as a lifer he would be able to study and take academic courses and build a life for himself behind bars, which is why he pled. But within 12 hours of arriving at prison, we're told Kohberger learned his lawyers gave him a bunch of BS, because death row inmates could do the same stuff as lifers, including going to recreation.   

We're told Kohberger is feeling upbeat and is cautiously optimistic, believing the door hasn't shut on his bid for freedom. 

Kohberger's next court hearing is scheduled for next month, when his legal team will argue about the merits of their motion to recuse Judge Steven Hippler, who was also Kohberger's trial judge.