Bryan Kohberger Returns to Court: October Hearing Could Undo Plea Deal and Put Him on Trial for Idaho Murders

Bryan Kohberger will be returning to court much sooner than expected.

The former criminology student, 31, and his defense team were granted an Oct. 15 hearing at the Ada County Courthouse in their attempt to disqualify Judge Steven Hippler from presiding over his bid for post-conviction relief, according to the court docket.

This comes shortly after Hippler—who ordered Kohberger to serve four life sentences for the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin— scheduled the first status conference and evidentiary hearing in the case for June 2027.

Kohberger filed his handwritten petition for post-conviction relief back in July, writing that he had “ineffective assistance of counsel” and that his guilty plea was not entered “knowingly or voluntarily because [it] was induced by unkept promises” and “because of threats asserted by [his] legal counsel.”

Prosecutors have already filed a motion seeking to dismiss the case — and Kohberger himself may have killed his chances when he signed a written factual basis document which stated that he is willing to “hereby admit responsibility” for the deaths of his four victims, who were all brutally stabbed to death on Nov. 13, 2022.

In that document, Kohberger also admitted that the “killing and murder” of his victims was “willful, unlawful, deliberate, with premeditation and with malice aforethought.”

It was after he filed that document and admitted his guilt in court that Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four lifetimes in prison without parole for the murders of the four University of Idaho students on July 23, 2025 — plus 10 years for a burglary charge and $270,000 in fines and civil penalties.

His sentencing occurred three weeks after he first appeared in that same Boise courtroom and confessed to the murders of all four students in a plea deal that spared him the possibility of being sentenced to death.

Part of that plea deal also required Kohberger to agree that he would never appeal the case, which means his only chance of getting a trial is through a petition for post-conviction relief.

If the judge ultimately grants Kohberger a new trial, he will likely be facing the death penalty if convicted.

Who that judge may be is now unclear, however, and Kohberger’s lawyers will get a chance to argue in court in support of their bid to remove Hippler in a month.

One of Kohberger’s lawyers, Jason Goldman, previously spoke with PEOPLE about the defense’s bid to disqualify Hippler.

“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,” Goldman said.

For this reason, he explained, “it would be an inherent conflict for the same presiding judge to decide these very issues.”

It is unclear if Kohberger will make an appearance at this court hearing. He remains in custody at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise.