Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger’s Family Backs His Challenge to the Guilty Plea (9/17/26)

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Murder In Moscow: Bryan Kohberger’s Family Backs His Challenge to the Guilty Plea (9/17/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to spin back up to Moscow
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and we're going to get an update on what's going
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: on with Brian Kohlberger. Because now we're hearing that his
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: family says they support the attempt to challenge the conviction.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Now that's quite the turn, considering his sister was suspicious
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of him in the aftermath. But all of a sudden,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: now they support him? Okay. Look, it's his family. If
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: it was my loved one, I'd want to support them too.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And I wouldn't want to believe that they're guilty of what,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: you know, they said they're guilty of. But sometimes the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: truth is the truth. And if Brian Kohlberger wasn't guilty,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: why did he admit to it? Now, you can say
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: he was coerced. You can say this, that, the other thing.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: But I don't buy it. And as somebody who's followed
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: this since the day the murder happened, you can save
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the gaslighting. Because we've read all the court documents since
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the very beginning. And we know exactly the kind of
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: evidence that was stacked against Kohlberger. And anybody who thinks
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that there wasn't a ton of evidence against him is crazy. Now,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: were there some holes? Sure. Could his defense team try
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and poke holes in the story a little bit more? Absolutely.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: And they did try that. They did everything they possibly
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: could to try and get Brian Koberger off. And none
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: of it worked out. So now, after pleading guilty to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: murdering those four kids, all of a sudden Brian Koberger
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: wants to get rid of the plea deal? and tell
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: everybody how innocent he is? Well, good luck. Today's article
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: is from ABC News and the headline, Brian Koberger's family
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: says they support his attempt to challenge the conviction. Well,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: wouldn't that have been something to tell him when the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: trial was happening or about to happen? Hey, look, Brian,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: we support you. We know you didn't do this. You
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: shouldn't take that plea deal. If I thought my son
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: was innocent, I wouldn't have him plead any of this.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: We would fight it to the very end. And even
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: if you get the death penalty. How long do you
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: think it's going to take for them to actually put
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you to death? What, you think your appeals are over
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and done with? In fact, he probably would have been
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in a better position if he would have went through
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: trial and been found guilty, right? But now, pleading to this,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: it's his own words, and that's going to be very,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: very hard to come back from. This article was authored
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: by Mark Garino. The family of Brian Kohlberger is supporting
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: his effort to challenge his 2025 conviction against saying in
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a statement exclusive to ABC News, our full support of
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Brian's decision to pursue post-conviction relief does not come from
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: a place of disregard. Oh, no, not at all. No,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: not at all. If my son admitted to this shit,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: let me tell you, I wouldn't be out here saying
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I support him trying to get a new plea. Sorry. Buddy,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: you made your bed. Now, I'll put money on your books.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: You're still my kid. I love you. But that's where
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: it ends. You were a grown-ass adult. You had the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: whole world ahead of you. You were about to have
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a great career. But instead, you decided to go into
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that house and murder those kids. Your words, buddy, not mine. Kohlberger,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: who is currently serving four consecutive life sentences for killing
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: four college students in Idaho, said in his petition that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the circumstances of his plea deal are now suspect because,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: among other things, he was convinced to falsely confess to
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a crime he says he didn't admit. Yeah, Ann Taylor
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: showed up with a gun, put it in his face
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and said, look, you better confess. Is that what he
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: wants us to believe? And you know, there's going to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: be a bunch of people out there running their fat
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: yaps using the Karen Reid strategy and literally poisoning the well.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: That's coming. And the people that are going to do that,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: absolute demons. Straight up disgusting. Now, it's one thing to
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: follow evidence, right? If there's evidence that somebody is getting railroaded,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: That's a story we should be talking about. But if
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that's what you're looking for, in my opinion, this case
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: is not it. Now, you want to talk about somebody
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: that might have been railroaded? Go take a look at
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: what happened down in Delphi. Go take a look at
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Richard Allen. Plenty of questions to be asked down there.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: But when we're talking about Brian Kohlberger, in my opinion,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the evidence is overwhelming. My actual innocence is my truth,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and the plea... Hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: must be withdrawn, he said in a statement to the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: New York Times last month. Here's the problem. His defense
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: team can't promise him anything. Only the prosecution. So, I
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: don't see what he's even talking about here. They knew
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: exactly what they were up against. They knew that if
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: they pleaded, dumbfuck was going to prison for the rest
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of his life. So, what's the issue? Kohlberger's family told
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: ABC News that they did not want their support of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: their son to compound the unimaginable grief the families have
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: borne so courageously. And look, I want to be critical
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: of Kohlberger's family, but I try to put myself in
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: their shoes. How would I react? Would I want my
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: son to get another chance? I don't know. I mean,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I say I wouldn't, but at the end of the day,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: it's your kid. And nobody wants to believe this about
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: their son or their daughter. The problem I would have
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: is all of the evidence that we've seen. Now, if
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: there wasn't evidence, namely that knife sheath, then this is
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: a whole different discussion, right? Because then you just have
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: a ton of circumstantial evidence without an anchor. But with
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: that knife sheath, with the DNA, that's the anchor. And
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: when you have that kind of anchor, and you have
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the confession to go along with it, good luck trying
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to get out from underneath that. Rather, it comes from
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: our family's need to see that the complete and unvarnished
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: truth is told. Like everyone, we seek answers to all
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: the questions that have been raised, which can only be
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: addressed through a proper trial as opposed to an improper plea,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the Kohlberger family said. Look, not for nothing, but where
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: were you when he was making this plea deal? Why
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: didn't you tell him no? Brian, don't do it. Let's
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: go to trial and let the chips fall where they may.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you why he didn't do that. Because he
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: knows he's guilty, okay? Point blank, period. That's my opinion.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And if you don't like it, here's an idea. go
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: fuck yourself. Because if you think I'm going to be
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: nice to the idiots that are going to show up
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to this case with their fat fucking yaps and their
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: dumb stupid theories, you got the wrong guy. Because that
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: shit is ridiculous. Now you want to talk about evidence-based issues?
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Let's see it. Show us the documentation. Show us what
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: went wrong. Show us how Brian Koberger was falsely accused.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I am certainly receptive to that. Because we all know
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: that the state makes mistakes, and we also know that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: the state doesn't play fair. So if somebody has real evidence,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I would love to see it. And like I always say,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: wherever the evidence leads us, that's where I'm willing to go.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: As a family, we continue to carry the victims, their families,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and the entire Moscow community in our hearts and daily prayer,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: they added. We continue to love and support Brian, and
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: we continue to respect the memory of those lost. We
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: seek to find justice and a conclusive resolution, through the
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: legal process. Not to be that guy, but isn't that
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: time passed? So every single person who has ever pled
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: guilty can come back and say the same thing? Eh,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: you know, my legal counsel was shitty. But, you know,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: I want to have another crack at this. My advice is,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: don't plead guilty if you're innocent. Now, you might take
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a plea deal because you don't want to go to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: prison forever. That's one thing. But if you're accepting a
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: plea deal and you're innocent, chances are you're poor as fuck.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And nobody's paying attention to your case. That is certainly
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: not the case here. Plenty of eyes on this. And
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: if there was anything that the prosecution did that was untoward,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: or if the prosecution wasn't giving up information that was requested,
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  Speaker 1: then we would know that. But that never occurred. We
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: never had that argument. And there was never any sanctions
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: against the prosecution for any Brady-Gilio violations. So I don't
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: know what Kohlberger thinks he's going to Do here, I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: don't know what kind of path he thinks he's going
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to blaze, but my guess is it's not going to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: end up for him the way he hopes. This month,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Brian Kohlberger also requested a new judge to oversee the process,
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  Speaker 1: saying comments made by Judge Stephen Hippler during his sentencing
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  Speaker 1: showed bias. Bro, you just admitted to killing four people.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: What should the judge say? Sorry, Brian, I know that
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  Speaker 1: this is rough on you, but I have to do this.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Like what? No, you murdered four people, and what Judge
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Hipler said was on point. Hipler said he could identify
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: nothing redeeming about Koberger because his conduct had buried anything
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  Speaker 1: good or human, and he called him the worst of
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the worst. Koberger's motion also asked for his case to
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: be moved back to Latah County, where the killings took place.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: A hearing regarding this request for a new judge and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: location is scheduled for October 15th. A hearing to address
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: his motion for post-conviction relief is set for June 17th, 2027,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: and that is quite some time away. But I'm sure
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: that up until that point, there's going to be a
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: whole lot more to get to, considering what's happening right now,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: and considering the legal fight that's gearing up. Last year, Koberger,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a former doctoral student in criminal justice, admitted he killed
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: four college students in an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: on November 13th, 2022. In addition to the life sentences,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: he received 10 years in prison for a burglary charge.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: The case received international media attention. Kohlberger never explained or
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: gave a motive for the killings. And I think as
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: part of a plea deal, they should have to tell
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you exactly what happened, why they did it, how they
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: planned it, where the murder weapon is, all of it.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: And if not, no plea deal. I'll see you at
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: trial and you're going to have a date with the hangman.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Pretty simple, right? By filing that brief, handwritten petition, Kohlberger's
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: putting himself in the category of many criminal defendants before
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: him who have argued after the fact that their guilty
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: pleas were coerced. It's not impossible, but not common, to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: have a plea deal returned after a conviction is final,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: said Andrea Lewis Hartung, director of Northwestern University Center on
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Wrongful Convictions. People accept guilty pleas for all kinds of reasons,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: not necessarily because they were guilty, she said. Oftentimes, she said,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it's because they don't want to take the chance of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: having such a harsh punishment or were offered lesser charges. Well,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: if you're innocent, shouldn't you fight it? Especially if you
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: have the state providing you with a million dollar defense?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: We're not talking about some indigent lawyer here, some guy
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: that got pulled out of the lineup. We're talking about
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: some of the best lawyers in Idaho. I guess that
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: wasn't good enough though. Under Idaho law, first degree murder
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: is a crime that can be punished by death or
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: life imprisonment. Prosecutors made it clear early in pretrial hearings
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: that they intended to see capital punishment. Plea deals are
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: often attractive for attorneys to avoid trial. In fact, in
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: any given year, 98% of criminal cases in federal courts
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and with a plea bargain, according to the American Bar Association. Well, yeah,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: because once you're facing the federal government and you know
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: you're cooked, no chance fighting that. You'll spend millions, millions
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: of dollars trying to do it. And unless you have
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: that kind of dough, forget it. And if you notice,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the people that actually beat the charges federally, they're all rich.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Every single one of them. Yet according to the National
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Registry of Exonerations, about 28% of all exonerated people across
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the United States since 2014 pled guilty to crimes they
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: did not commit. Likewise, the Innocence Project shows that about
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: 12% of known DNA exoneration cases involved an innocent person
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: who pled guilty. Oh, they're gearing up for that fight.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And guess what? I'm here for it. I'll be ready
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: to get in the trenches and we'll challenge everything they
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: put forward and we'll see if it's real or not.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: And if it is, well, we'll state that. But if
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: it's bullshit, we're going to talk about that too. Kohlberger's
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: court-appointed lawyers, led by Coeur d'Alene-based attorney Ann Taylor, spent
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: more than two years challenging evidence during pretrial hearings. Despite
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Kohlberger's insistence that he was not guilty throughout the process,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: his plea deal was announced shortly before his trial was
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: scheduled to begin. Oh yeah, Brian Kohlberger, Mr. Innocent, just
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: another wrongly accused man. Hell, maybe we should just say
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: that it was his autism that made him do it. So,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: he's innocent. In his new petition, Kohlberger claims his lawyers
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: pressured him into the deal with false promises. That's a
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: problem right there, because his lawyers can't promise anything in
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the first place. So, that's a Brian Kohlberger problem. He
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: said his court-assigned defense team failed to disclose or review
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: exculpatory evidence during discussions, and despite his insistence that he
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: was innocent, he said his attorneys told him that it
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was legally okay to submit a false guilty plea. Oh,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that's the conversation that was had, because Ann
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Taylor didn't want to go to trial and make a
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: bunch of money. Is this guy for real? Like, honestly,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: is he for real? I guess he is. Kohlberger took
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the plea because he was frightened out of his mind. Dr.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Brent Turvey, a forensic criminologist hired by Kohlberger's legal team
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: to analyze the crime scene, told ABC News. His lawyers
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: told him it's okay to lie to the court. His
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: family was used to induce him to take the plea.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: He didn't know how the strength of his own case.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: You know what? Let's have a new trial. Let's do it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: And then, after this piece of shit ends up getting
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the firing squad, I don't want to hear a word
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: from anybody. Because that's what's going to end up happening.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Mark my words. Turvey said Kohlberger and his family were
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: not given enough knowledge of the case the defense team
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: had built before he pleaded guilty. Turvey explained his report
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: provided to the defense lawyers included more evidence that supports
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Kohlberger's innocence. He had the chance to testify for Kohlberger.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Turvey said he would have told a jury that he
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: was troubled by how investigators documented evidence in the house
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: where the victims were found. He said police did not
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: properly handle the knife sheath after they found it, so
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: much so it should have been ruled inadmissible at trial.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Turvey also said the hair evidence points to someone else
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: because FBI analysis excluded Kohlberger. Is this guy for real?
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: That's what you think the documentation said? Okay, I guess
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: you didn't read the court documents, Mr. Turvey. College students
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: drive around all the time. That's normal behavior, Turvey said.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: What's really interesting is turning off the cell phone. It's
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: riddled throughout his cell phone behavior. He'll turn it off
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and drive around. Why? He's a college student who doesn't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: want to be bothered. You ignore the behavior of real people. Oh, sure, sure, sure.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what he was doing. You really think a
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: jury is going to buy that? Ann Taylor did not
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: respond to ABC's news request for comment. Jason Goldman, one
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: of Kohlberger's new defense attorneys, said plea deals can be
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: thrown out by bringing evidence to support the notion that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: you were coerced into accepting a plea through false promises, misrepresentations,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: or through undue duress. I cannot wait to see the evidence.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Because all this talk is pretty hilarious. Oftentimes, these very
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: psychological methods could have been employed by an individual's own counsel,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: justifying a court's decision to allow a person to withdraw
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: their plea, he told ABC News. So it's the lawyer's fault.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Everybody's fault but Brian bitch-ass Kohlberger. Okay. Alright. Many individuals
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: take a plea deal even when they are otherwise innocent
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: or believe that evidence against them is weak. Sadly, it
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: becomes less about facts, guilt or innocence, and more about
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: business decisions and being risk-averse, he said. Idaho Attorney General
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Raul Labrador released a statement following Kohlberger's petition saying only
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: that he had sympathy for victim families and who have
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: already endured unimaginable loss, and who now must face today's
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: deeply painful news. My office stands ready to do whatever
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out. Well, folks,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: this is the first salvo, and we're going to see
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a lot more of this. And my guess is we're
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: going to see a lot of people show up who
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: try and pollute the pool. A lot of people who
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: show up with a lot of weird theories that aren't
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: backed up by actual documentation, and it's all about vibes
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: and feelings and aura. Because you know that's coming. The TikToks,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: the Candace Owen disciples, the Karen Reid people. It's all
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: on the way. So buckle up, folks, because this Brian
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Koberger ride has only just begun. All the information that
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found in the description box.