Bryan Kohberger said 3 words at sentencing. What were they?
Kohberger's refusal to speak at the July 23 hearing closed the door on hopes that the 30-year-old would reveal why he fatally stabbed four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Among those who wish to know what motived Kohberger's attack were the families of the four victims, the judge overseeing the case and President Donald Trump.
In a post on Truth Social this week, Trump urged Judge Steven Hippler to require Kohberger to explain his actions.
Why did Bryan Kohberger kill? Experts weigh in on mysterious Idaho killings
"These were vicious murders, with so many questions left unanswered," Trump wrote. "While Life Imprisonment is tough, it's certainly better than receiving the Death Penalty but, before Sentencing, I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING."
But Kohberger's plea deal didn't require him to speak at sentencing, and his attorney, Anne Taylor, previously told USA TODAY his defense team will not comment or provide any information, even after Kohberger begins his prison sentence.
After the sentencing hearing, local police officials speaking at a news conference gave little hope that more information about Kohberger's motives would be released.
'The evidence suggested that there was a reason that this particular house was chosen," said Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne. "What that reason is, we don't know."
As a part of the plea deal from prosecutors, Kohberger admitted to fatally stabbing Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, at a rental home near the university campus on Nov. 13, 2022.
Their deaths sparked a nationwide manhunt, drew international headlines and rocked the northern Idaho community of Moscow, which prior to 2022 hadn't reported a murder in about five years.
Kohberger, who at the time was studying criminal justice at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his family lives. Prosecutors said he had long planned the attack and was tied to the brutal rampage through surveillance footage, DNA evidence and cellphone records.
At the sentencing hearing, relatives of the victims gave tearful accounts of how the killings changed their lives. Some said their days have been haunted by grief and anguish. Others said they forgave Kohberger in order to find some semblance of peace. Some admonished him in fiery statements, calling him "weak" and "pathetic."
Judge Hippler said that while he shared the families' desire to hear Kohberger's motivation for committing the murders, he acknowledged that no answer to such a question would be satisfying.
'Even if we could get truthful insight into his why, I suspect it would not in any way quench one's thirst for actually understanding why," he said. "Because there is no reason for these crimes that could approach anything resembling rationality."
Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What did Bryan Kohberger say at sentencing for Idaho murders?
Solve the daily Crossword
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla ordered to pay $200 million in punitive damages over fatal crash
Tesla was found partly liable in a wrongful death case involving the electric vehicle company's Autopilot system, with a jury awarding the plaintiffs $200 million in punitive damages plus additional money in compensatory damages. The case, which took place in a Miami courtroom over the last couple of weeks, centered on whether defects in Tesla's self-driving technology ultimately contributed to the death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon in 2019. Along with the $200 million in punitive damages, Tesla was also ordered to pay around $43 million in compensatory damages directly to the plaintiffs. Leon was killed when a man driving a Model S Tesla equipped with Tesla's Autopilot technology plowed through a T-shaped intersection and struck her and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo. Angulo survived but was gravely injured. The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility in the incident and that George McGee, the Florida driver who lost sight of the road when he dropped his phone, was not entirely to blame. "Today's verdict represents justice for Naibel's tragic death and Dillon's lifelong injuries, holding Tesla and Musk accountable for propping up the company's trillion-dollar valuation with self-driving hype at the expense of human lives," said the plaintiffs' attorney Brett Schreiber in a statement shared with CBS News. The plaintiffs in the case originally asked for $345 million in damages during closing arguments on Thursday. During the trial, lawyers for the plaintiffs alleged that Tesla either hid or lost key evidence after a forensic data expert was able to recover data from the accident that Tesla said had been deleted. Tesla disputes ruling and will appeal "Today's verdict is wrong, and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology," Tesla said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "This was never about Autopilot; it was a fiction concocted by plaintiffs' lawyers blaming the car when the driver — from day one — admitted and accepted responsibility." Tesla also said it plans to appeal the decision. The case was a big test for the electric vehicle maker, which has been under scrutiny over the safety of its cars. Similar cases have been brought against Tesla, although many have been dismissed. "This will open the floodgates," said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. "It will embolden a lot of people to come to court." Arkansas officials reveal new details about Devil's Den murders of husband and wife Trump says nuclear subs to be positioned after former Russian president's remark Trump says he's ordered the firing of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Manhunt launched after 4 killed in a shooting at a Montana bar
Montana Shooting ANACONDA, Mont. (AP) — Four people were killed in a shooting at a Montana bar Friday, authorities said as they launched a manhunt for the suspect. The suspect was last seen in the Stump Town area, which is just west of Anaconda, according to a Facebook post by the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center. He was believed to still be armed, the Montana Highway Patrol said in a statement. The shooting happened around 10:30 a.m. on Friday at The Owl Bar, according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, which is leading the investigation. The agency confirmed four people were pronounced dead at the scene and that it was an active investigation. Authorities have yet to release details about what led to the shooting. More than a dozen officers from local and state police converged on Stump Town where they appeared to be searching for the suspect in the woods. His home in Anaconda had already been cleared by a SWAT team, according to the Granite County Sheriff's office. Anaconda is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Missoula. The owner of the Firefly Café in Anaconda said she locked up her business at about 11 a.m. Friday after getting alerted to the shooting by a friend. Two hours later, she was still waiting for an all clear before reopening. 'We are Montana, so guns are not new to us. For our town to be locked down, everybody's pretty rattled,' café owner Barbie Nelson said. 'It's a small town, so we all probably know someone who was there' at the shooting. she added.
Gizmodo
4 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Tesla Ordered to Pay More Than $200 Million Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
A jury in Florida found Tesla partially liable for a fatal 2019 crash involving one of the company's vehicles operating in Autopilot mode. The jury awarded a combined $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages to Tesla, according to The New York Times. The incident in question occurred in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019. George McGee was behind the wheel of a Tesla Model S and had the company's Autopilot software activated while traveling down a two-lane road at night. As the car drove through the intersection while McGee was searching for his phone, it crashed into the back of a legally parked black SUV at a speed of more than 50 miles per hour. Naibel Benavides, a 22-year-old college student, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, were standing outside the vehicle at the time of impact. Angulo sustained serious injuries from the crash, and Benavides lost her life as a result of the collision. The Florida jury found that McGee bore 2/3rds of the responsibility for the crash, but Tesla was responsible for 1/3rd of it, as the company's Autopilot software failed to brake while approaching the intersection that it ultimately sped through before initiating the deadly crash. 'Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans,' Brett Schreiber, counsel for the plaintiffs, told CNBC. Tesla denounced the ruling and said that it plans to appeal the decision. 'Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology. We plan to appeal given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial,' Tesla said in a statement, per The Times. Of the many lawsuits brought against Tesla for failures stemming from its autonomous systems, this was the first to go to a jury trial. Tesla has previously settled out of court to avoid trial—a route the company took earlier this year to avoid proceedings related to another 2019 incident in which a Model 3 allegedly failed to avoid a collision with a tractor-trailer. The ruling, which the judge in the case accepted, comes as Tesla is attempting to ramp up its fully autonomous 'Robotaxi' service, which allows people to request rides from driverless Tesla vehicles. The company's limited launch in Austin, Texas, was plagued by dangerous driving from the Robotaxis. The company started offering the service in San Francisco last month, though the vehicles have a human in the driver's seat.
