Bryan Kohberger fights to remove judge who called him ‘worst of the worst,’ questioned his honesty

Bryan Kohberger’s new lawyer is taking another swing at Idaho prosecutors in his fight to have the judge who called his client a “faceless coward” removed from post-conviction proceedings.

Court-appointed attorney Greg Rauch is accusing Latah County prosecutors of “regurgitating” rules rather than addressing concerns raised in his motion to disqualify Judge Steven Hippler from the case.

Hippler said Kohberger, 31, “slithered” into the victims’ home before committing a crime that made him “the worst of the worst” after the killer admitted guilt last year.

At issue, according to Rauch, “is how [Hippler’s] statements about counsel’s preparation and [Kohberger’s] capacity for truthfulness bear on the disputes it may now decide, in combination with the myriad of other statements made.”

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And when addressing the fact that there would be no allocution or explanation from Kohberger, the judge also questioned whether Kohberger even possessed the capacity to say something truthful.

“Even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?” Hippler asked during sentencing. “Do we really believe, after all of this, he is capable of speaking the truth, or of giving up something of himself to help the very people whose lives he destroyed? Rather, I suspect the so-called reason would be dished out in enticing self-serving and aggrandizing untruthful bits, leaving people wanting more information, more insight, and thus enhancing even further the power he seeks to hold.”

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Rauch wrote that “of course” judges can deny defense motions, “condemn terrible crimes,” and go on to preside over post-conviction claims.

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“The question is not whether someone might criticize the Court, but whether an informed, reasonable observer could question its impartiality in light of this connected record,” he wrote.

And it’s not just that Hippler tore into Kohberger at sentencing. He has also taken issue with a June scheduling order days before Kohberger surprised the country and pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.

“This motion does not rest upon one adverse ruling, one harsh statement, or the mere fact that the judge who presided over Bryan Kohberger’s criminal case has been assigned to his post-conviction proceeding,” Rauch wrote in his initial 22-page motion on Aug. 27. “It rests upon the extraordinary convergence of all of them.”

Hippler had rejected a request for more time for Kohberger’s previous defense lawyer, Anne Taylor, and in a June 26 order, described her complaints about discovery as “ultimately empty” while suggesting she was simply trying to delay his trial.

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Six days later, at a change-of-plea hearing, Hippler asked Taylor, “Have you been able to do all the discovery you feel necessary?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” she replied.

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Prosecutors, in an opposition to the motion filed earlier this month, wrote that Kohberger had failed to show Hippler “is biased.”

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Outgoing Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson, who announced his retirement earlier this week, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scholl wrote that Hippler’s statements about Kohberger after he’d admitted to killing four innocent students were not unusual or out of line.

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“In our case, the sentencing remarks are not enough to show bias, and the required showing of perceived bias cannot be tied to this Court’s capacity to fairly adjudicate any [post-conviction relief] claims alleged in this case but rather puts this Court in the best position to adjudicate them as the legislature and the Idaho Supreme Court’s rules intend,” they wrote.

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Rauch also argued that Hippler could voluntarily recuse himself from the case to avoid any appearance of partiality.

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In the new 12-page filing, Rauch also argued that prosecutors have attributed concessions to his client that were never made, mischaracterized his initial motion and failed to address some of the arguments he did make in it.

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“The State’s Response does not resolve this motion by repeating the ordinary rule, supplying concessions Petitioner never made, or calling the disputed statements routine,” Rauch wrote.

Kohberger is attempting to undo his guilty plea in the University of Idaho student murders that killed Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, in November 2022.

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The former criminology Ph.D. student initially filed a handwritten petition for post-conviction relief in July.

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Rauch was later appointed to represent him and has until Jan. 13, 2027 to file an amended petition that is expected to be much more in-depth than Kohberger’s.

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“A request for an impartial adjudicator is certainly not a request for a sympathetic one,” he wrote. “Reassignment would change the judge, not the evidence or the governing law.”

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A hearing on the matter was supposed to take place Thursday, before Hippler abruptly canceled it and said it would be rescheduled later.