Three weeks after pleading guilty to the November 2022 murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin as part of a bombshell plea deal that would allow him to avoid the death penalty, Bryan Kohberger was back in the Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, Wednesday morning for sentencing.
Judge Steven Hippler handed down what was largely expected to be the punishment – 10 years in prison for one count of burglary and four life sentences without the possibility of parole for each first-degree murder count to be served consecutively.
On Wednesday, Megyn anchored live coverage of the sentencing hearing, which included the reading of gut-wrenching victim impact statements, and was joined by legal experts Matt Murphy and Phil Holloway and journalist Howard Blum to discuss the “unsatisfying” conclusion to this horrific crime.
The Sentence
After listening to powerful and heartbreaking statements from the surviving roommates and victims’ families, Kohberger – wearing an orange prison jumpsuit – declined to make a statement, telling the judge, “I respectfully decline.”
With that, Judge Hippler summarized what he called “this unfathomable and senseless act,” taking aim at the killer himself:
“During the quiet morning hours of November 13, 2022, a faceless coward breached the tranquility of six beautiful young people and senselessly slaughtered four of them. Who committed this unspeakable evil was unknown for several weeks, but due to the killer’s incompetence and outstanding police work by numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, the person that slithered through that sliding glass door at 1122 King Road now stands before the world and this court unmasked.”
The judge implored the media to not give Kohberger “the spotlight, the attention, and the power he appears to crave” by seeking interviews or access. “In my view, the time has now come to end. Mr. Kohberger’s 15 minutes of fame,” he said. “It’s time that he be consigned to the ignominy and isolation of perpetual incarceration.”
He then read out his sentencing decision, which included 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for the burglary count and “a fixed term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole” for the four first-degree murder counts. Those each also carry a $50,000 fine and $5,000 civil penalty payable to the families. All five sentences will run consecutively to one another.
Additionally, the judge noted that Kohberger does have the right to file a notice of appeal within 42 days, though he cautioned that “may be deemed a violation of the plea agreement” that stipulated he would waive his right to appeal.
With that, Hippler “remand[ed] the defendant to the custody of the Idaho State Board of Corrections for him to be imprisoned in an appropriate facility in execution of the sentence where he will remain until he dies.”
‘Deeply Unsatisfying’
While there were no real surprises in the hearing or sentencing, Megyn said the situation is far from satisfying. “It feels unsatisfying,” she said. “This cretin, this human excrement sitting there– I don’t know what happened to him, but he doesn’t seem human to me. He seems otherworldly, and I don’t mean that in a complimentary way. He just seems like something, frankly, that needs to be snuffed out. But the next best thing is to have him rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
Blum, who has been covering this case from the beginning, said he found the outcome “deeply unsatisfying” and did not agree with the judge’s call to turn the page. “There were two diametrically opposed positions presented today. One was by the Goncalves family that raised questions they wanted answers to. And the judge, in effect, said, ‘Let’s move on,'” he noted. “Well, I think it’s too soon to forget about it. Yes, we’ll never know a rational reason why he did it, but there still are other questions remaining… [and] I think the people of Idaho, the families, and… the public should have been presented with more answers.”
Murphy prosecuted dozens of murder cases as a former senior deputy district attorney in the Orange County, California, homicide unit, and he said plea deals tend to hit differently. “I think that if this was a sentencing after a jury trial, we might feel a little bit different,” he noted. “Because we would have really seen the exhaustion of all the evidence that was available. We would have seen and heard every detail of this investigation.”
He praised the judge, however, for his statements in court and his sentencing decision. “One of my criticisms of [the prosecutor was]… he surrendered that power to sentence… life without possibility of parole, [but] the court imposed that upon its own discretion,” Murphy explained. “So, hats off to the court. I thought that judge really did an outstanding job today, and he did exactly the right thing.”
Judgement vs. Justice
Even so, Holloway said there is a difference between rendering a judgement and delivering justice. “There can be a judgment in any case, but when we speak of… was justice delivered? Justice is one of those words that is incapable of being defined, and it’s in the eye of the beholder,” he explained. “I would submit that there is no amount of justice – whatever it may be – that can possibly apply to this case because of the magnitude of the destruction.”
“Not only of the individuals’ lives who were taken but the destruction that [was] left in the wake of this evil, evil, evil act is not capable of receiving adequate justice, in my view,” he added. “So, there is, I think, always going to be some measure of dissatisfaction because justice just can’t address this kind of evil.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,114 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.