Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Murder In Moscow: Judge Hippler Sets the Framework for Bryan Kohberger’s Guilty Plea Challenge (8/27/267)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In
- 0:03Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to spin back up the Moscow
- 0:06Speaker 1: and we're going to check in on the latest developments
- 0:09Speaker 1: in Brian Koberger's push for a new trial. And now,
- 0:13Speaker 1: Judge Hippler has put a date on the calendar for
- 0:17Speaker 1: an evidentiary hearing to see if this should go forward.
- 0:22Speaker 1: And of course, Judge Hippler is not playing games and
- 0:25Speaker 1: has a strict outline for what's going to be used
- 0:28Speaker 1: as evidence and what will not be admissible. So today
- 0:31Speaker 1: we have an article from the Twin Cities Pioneer Press,
- 0:37Speaker 1: which was originally posted by the Associated Press, and just
- 0:41Speaker 1: being hosted over here at Pioneer. And the headline, A
- 0:45Speaker 1: June date on the calendar, but no hearing yet for
- 0:47Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger's plea challenge. This article was authored by Rebecca Boone.
- 0:53Speaker 1: An Idaho judge has set the timeline for Brian Kohlberger's
- 0:56Speaker 1: attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in the murder of
- 0:59Speaker 1: four University of Idaho students, and he's warning attorneys on
- 1:02Speaker 1: both sides that he will hold any new evidence in
- 1:05Speaker 1: the case to a strict legal standard, as he should. Look,
- 1:10Speaker 1: if there's evidence, let's see it. Like I've always told you,
- 1:14Speaker 1: I'm willing to follow the evidence wherever it goes. And
- 1:17Speaker 1: if Brian Kohlberger has a compelling case, I'm more than
- 1:20Speaker 1: willing to look at what he has. The problem is,
- 1:23Speaker 1: I think he's bullshitting. And I don't think he has anything.
- 1:29Speaker 1: because I don't think that his lawyers coerced him into
- 1:32Speaker 1: any of this. Are we going to act like Ann
- 1:35Speaker 1: Taylor isn't a great lawyer? Is that really what we're
- 1:38Speaker 1: going to do? Because anybody saying that is bullshitting. Ann
- 1:42Speaker 1: Taylor jumped through hoops for this dude. I'm talking every
- 1:46Speaker 1: motion you can imagine, every stalling tactic under the sun,
- 1:50Speaker 1: and everything that she's capable of doing was done. Brought
- 1:54Speaker 1: in every expert, brought in every person that could have
- 1:57Speaker 1: helped Brian Kohlberger. And after all of that, after all
- 2:01Speaker 1: of the evidence that was given to them, her and
- 2:04Speaker 1: Massoth and the rest of the team, they knew that
- 2:06Speaker 1: Kohlberger was cooked. That's why he accepted the plea deal.
- 2:10Speaker 1: Not because he was coerced, and not because he was forced.
- 2:14Speaker 1: At least in my opinion. Now if he has evidence
- 2:17Speaker 1: that proves otherwise, again, I am more than willing to
- 2:20Speaker 1: see it. Fourth District Judge Stephen Hippler who sentenced Kohlberger
- 2:24Speaker 1: to life in prison without parole after Kohlberger pleaded guilty
- 2:28Speaker 1: to the murder last year, set out the guidelines for
- 2:31Speaker 1: how the case will proceed in a written order Wednesday morning.
- 2:35Speaker 1: The judge did not grant Kohlberger a hearing on his
- 2:38Speaker 1: claims that his guilty plea should be withdrawn. Instead, Hipler
- 2:42Speaker 1: scheduled the date for next June in case he determines
- 2:46Speaker 1: an evidentiary hearing is warranted. So they're going to have
- 2:49Speaker 1: to provide him with some evidence leading up to this.
- 2:52Speaker 1: And there's going to be some conferences and phone calls, etc.
- 2:55Speaker 1: And keep in mind, just because Kohlberger is asking for this,
- 2:58Speaker 1: doesn't mean he's going to get it. Now, it doesn't
- 3:01Speaker 1: mean he won't get it either, right? That's why we're
- 3:03Speaker 1: talking about it. But I think the odds are stacked
- 3:05Speaker 1: against him. And I think he has a very, very
- 3:08Speaker 1: high mountain to climb if he wants to get a
- 3:10Speaker 1: new trial. Kohlberger, 31, is serving four consecutive life sentences
- 3:15Speaker 1: for the murder of Kaylee Gonsalves, Ethan Chapin, Zanna Kernodel,
- 3:20Speaker 1: and Madison Mogan. in a rental home near the Moscow,
- 3:23Speaker 1: Idaho campus in 2022. In exchange for his guilty plea,
- 3:28Speaker 1: prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Big mistake.
- 3:33Speaker 1: This man should have been given the death penalty. Should
- 3:36Speaker 1: have went through the trial, and I think if they
- 3:38Speaker 1: did that, there would have been enough to convict him,
- 3:40Speaker 1: and then after that conviction, obviously, string this motherfucker up.
- 3:46Speaker 1: I mean, what are we even doing here? Look, I'm
- 3:49Speaker 1: not a big fan of the death penalty by any
- 3:51Speaker 1: stretch of the imagination, but if it's on the books,
- 3:54Speaker 1: then it should be used. And if the people of
- 3:57Speaker 1: Idaho have voted for it, well, who am I to
- 4:00Speaker 1: tell them what to do? You want to talk about sovereignty?
- 4:03Speaker 1: There it is. I don't want people in Idaho telling
- 4:06Speaker 1: me what I can do in my state. So if
- 4:08Speaker 1: they've decided that the death penalty is something they want
- 4:11Speaker 1: to pursue, then that's what they should do. And frankly,
- 4:16Speaker 1: if anybody's going to get the death penalty... Some bitch-ass
- 4:19Speaker 1: coward who sneaks into some house and stabs some kids
- 4:22Speaker 1: while they're sleeping should certainly be one of the top candidates.
- 4:28Speaker 1: Kohlberger filed a handwritten petition last month asking the court
- 4:31Speaker 1: to let him take back his plea, saying his attorneys
- 4:34Speaker 1: manipulated him into making the deal by promising him better
- 4:38Speaker 1: prison conditions and scaring him about the quality of life
- 4:41Speaker 1: on death row. Oh, give me a fucking break, dude. Oh, well,
- 4:46Speaker 1: they told me that things would be rough for me. Yeah,
- 4:48Speaker 1: no shit, stupid. You're in prison. Okay? What do you
- 4:50Speaker 1: think it is? You're lucky you're not in California. And frankly,
- 4:54Speaker 1: they should take this motherfucker out of protective custody. Drop
- 4:58Speaker 1: his ass on the main line and let's see what's up.
- 5:00Speaker 1: I have a funny feeling he wouldn't be as tough.
- 5:05Speaker 1: Kohlberger offered only a few details and elaboration, saying they
- 5:09Speaker 1: failed to disclose or review evidence that might have helped
- 5:12Speaker 1: his case during plea discussions. Kohlberger has since been appointed
- 5:16Speaker 1: a new attorney, Greg Rausch, who said he couldn't immediately
- 5:19Speaker 1: comment on the case. Yeah, he doesn't know enough yet.
- 5:23Speaker 1: And he's not going to say anything that could, you know,
- 5:26Speaker 1: stunt the chances of Kohlberger maybe getting a new trial.
- 5:30Speaker 1: So he's going to be quiet. And probably for the best.
- 5:34Speaker 1: What exactly are you going to say? This quadruple murderer
- 5:38Speaker 1: wasn't treated correctly? He wasn't treated fairly? After it took over, what,
- 5:42Speaker 1: three years to get to the point we got to?
- 5:44Speaker 1: Only for him to plead guilty at the 11th hour?
- 5:47Speaker 1: But sure, Brian Koberger wasn't treated correctly, wasn't treated fairly,
- 5:51Speaker 1: had his constitutional rights stepped on. Meanwhile, we got four
- 5:55Speaker 1: dead fucking kids, okay? Let's talk about that. In Wednesday's order,
- 6:01Speaker 1: Hipler told prosecutors and Koberger's attorney that they must strictly
- 6:04Speaker 1: adhere to the Idaho Rules of Court procedure, particularly the
- 6:09Speaker 1: sections detailing what evidence is admissible in court. The judge
- 6:13Speaker 1: also detailed how both sides should not object to evidence
- 6:16Speaker 1: that they feel is not admissible. So basically, Judge Hippler
- 6:20Speaker 1: is just setting the tone, right? This is what we're
- 6:22Speaker 1: going to do. This is what we're not going to do.
- 6:25Speaker 1: This is acceptable. This is not acceptable. And hopefully they comply.
- 6:32Speaker 1: Anyone who doesn't comply with the court's order could be
- 6:34Speaker 1: subject to sanctions, Hippler wrote. Hippler said that both sides
- 6:38Speaker 1: should disclose any potential witnesses, including experts, by the start
- 6:42Speaker 1: of February. He also set a status conference for next June.
- 6:47Speaker 1: So look, this is going to carry on for quite
- 6:49Speaker 1: some time, right? Just like everything else when it comes
- 6:52Speaker 1: to Brian Kohlberger and the Moscow murders, it's going to
- 6:56Speaker 1: take time, and it's drawn out. And what it does,
- 6:59Speaker 1: once again, is screw things up for the families. They
- 7:02Speaker 1: thought they had closure. They thought that the plea deal
- 7:05Speaker 1: put this all to bed. only to wake up one
- 7:08Speaker 1: morning to find out that's not true. So, look, I'm
- 7:12Speaker 1: not saying that I don't care about Brian Kohlberger's constitutional rights.
- 7:15Speaker 1: I do. Just like I even cared about that skafooza,
- 7:18Speaker 1: Ghislaine Maxwell's. Because it's important, right? The government has so
- 7:23Speaker 1: much power to fuck people's lives up, to ruin people's lives,
- 7:27Speaker 1: to throw them in prison, and other shit, that they
- 7:30Speaker 1: have to play by the rules. There can be no shortcuts.
- 7:34Speaker 1: So if shortcuts were taken, let's see them. Lay them out.
- 7:38Speaker 1: Give us your evidence. Tell us what happened. Who screwed
- 7:41Speaker 1: things up? Who was working against you when they were
- 7:45Speaker 1: supposed to be defending you? Because from where I'm sitting,
- 7:48Speaker 1: my personal opinion is none of that occurred. I think
- 7:53Speaker 1: that Brian Kohlberger's lawyers were some of the best that
- 7:56Speaker 1: I've ever seen, if I'm being honest. And we're talking
- 7:59Speaker 1: about a very complex case. Millions of pages of discovery.
- 8:03Speaker 1: All kinds of tests. all kinds of DNA profiles, IgG reports,
- 8:08Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff. And I think that Ann Taylor
- 8:12Speaker 1: handled that shit real well. And I think you'd be
- 8:14Speaker 1: lucky to have a lawyer like Ann Taylor, especially if
- 8:17Speaker 1: you're not paying for it. And remember, Brian Koberger didn't
- 8:21Speaker 1: pay for his lawyer. The taxpayers in Idaho did. So
- 8:25Speaker 1: Brian Koberger was afforded one of the best lawyers in
- 8:28Speaker 1: the state, some other fantastic lawyers that joined the team,
- 8:34Speaker 1: And he's still saying he got a raw deal? That
- 8:37Speaker 1: he got screwed? That he was coerced? You know who
- 8:40Speaker 1: got a raw deal? Zanna, Ethan, Madison, and Kaylee. And
- 8:45Speaker 1: all of their family and friends. They got a raw deal.
- 8:50Speaker 1: Not Brian Kohlberger. Bro had every chance in the world
- 8:54Speaker 1: to fight these charges. He had every chance in the
- 8:57Speaker 1: world to stand up in that courtroom and say, look,
- 9:00Speaker 1: I'm not pleading guilty. I didn't do this shit. It
- 9:02Speaker 1: wasn't me. You got the wrong guy, Jack. But what
- 9:06Speaker 1: did he do? Pleaded guilty, then like the little bitch
- 9:09Speaker 1: he is, didn't say anything else. So all these people
- 9:12Speaker 1: out here talking about, oh, there's a conspiracy, or Brian
- 9:15Speaker 1: Kohlberger's not guilty. Nobody believes that. Nobody with a brain
- 9:20Speaker 1: in their head. Maybe Candace Owen supporters, but regular people,
- 9:25Speaker 1: they're not buying that shit. And that's because they've seen
- 9:28Speaker 1: the evidence. And the evidence is overwhelming. And that's just
- 9:32Speaker 1: the circumstantial part of it. Now that we're getting into
- 9:35Speaker 1: what the experts had to say behind the scenes, the
- 9:39Speaker 1: evidence that they compiled against this man is devastating. And
- 9:42Speaker 1: I think he's making a big mistake. Because I think
- 9:45Speaker 1: if they go to trial, that Brian Koberger is going
- 9:48Speaker 1: to get the death penalty. So my unsolicited advice to Mr.
- 9:52Speaker 1: Weirdo is to tread very, very lightly. Because I don't
- 9:55Speaker 1: think the taxpayers and the jurors in Idaho are buying
- 9:59Speaker 1: your nonsense. They weren't buying it then, and I don't
- 10:02Speaker 1: think they're buying it now. In fact, I think you're
- 10:05Speaker 1: going to make a lot of people very angry with
- 10:07Speaker 1: this bullshit. And some of those people, well, they just
- 10:10Speaker 1: might find their way.
- 10:11Speaker 2: Into that jury pool. So look, we're not at a
- 10:14Speaker 2: point yet where any of that's even going to come
- 10:16Speaker 2: into play. Okay? We still have a long way to go.
- 10:19Speaker 2: But the wheels are now in motion. The only question is,
- 10:22Speaker 2: what's the destination? All the information that goes with this
- 10:26Speaker 2: episode can be found in the description box.