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Murder In Moscow: The Long Legal Road Behind Kohberger’s Latest Filing (Part 5) (8/9/26) · 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 picking up where we left off with
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the conversation about Brian Colberger. By accusing his former lawyers
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of ineffective representation, Colburger is also placing previously confidential communications
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: in dispute. Attorney client privilege generally protects private discussion between
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: defendants and their counsel. A defendant cannot ordinarily use that
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: privilege as both the sword and the shield. Colburger cannot
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: accuse his attorneys of lying to him while preventing them
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: from explaining what they actually said. The court may therefore
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: permit disclosure of communications necessary to answer his allegations. Former
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: council notes, messages, memoranda, and records of plead discussions may
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: become relevant. Those material may reveal how thoroughly the defense
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: investigated the state's evidence. They may also reveal what Colburger
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: told his attorneys about his willingness to plead guilty or
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: proceed to trial. The disclosures could support his current account,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: but they could also easily undermine it. His petition is
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: consequently opening a part of the defense case that had
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: previously remained protected from public examination. Coberger claims that descriptions
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of death row conditions improperly influenced his decision. He alleges
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: that his attorneys frightened him with a misleading account of
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  Speaker 1: what would happen if he were convicted and sentenced to death.
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  Speaker 1: That argument requires the court to distinguish between coercion and
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  Speaker 1: candid legal advice. A capital defense attorney is obligated to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: explain the possible consequences of rejecting a plea agreement. Those
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: consequences include execution, restrictive confinement, a prolonged litigation, and the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: realities of death row incarceration. Accurately describing frightening consequences does
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: not make a plea involuntary. The issue is whether Coberger's
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  Speaker 1: lawyers knowingly presented materially false information in order to overpower
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: his independent judgment. His intelligence, education, access to counsel, and
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  Speaker 1: extended opportunity to consider the agreement all bear on that question,
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  Speaker 1: So does the judge's own explanation of the rights and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: consequences involved. Coburger must prove something more serious than the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: ordinary pressure experience by a defendant choosing between life imprisonment
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and a possible death sentence. The petition also alleges that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: promises concerning prison conditions helped induce the guilty Please, Coburger
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: appears to claim that he expected the agreement to produce
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  Speaker 1: a more favorable placement or a quality of confinement. A
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: plea may be vulnerable if it rests on a material
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  Speaker 1: promise that was actually made and then broken. The first
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: question is whether any authorized person made such a promise.
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  Speaker 1: The second is whether the promise formed part of the
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  Speaker 1: plea agreement rather than an informal prediction or a personal assumption.
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  Speaker 1: Written plead documents usually identify the obligations accepted by prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: and defendants. Correctional officials rather than defense attorneys, generally control classification, housing, security,
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  Speaker 1: and dealy conditions. A lawyer's mistaken prediction about placement may
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  Speaker 1: not carry the same legal consequence as an enforceable promise
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  Speaker 1: from the state. Colberger must establish precisely what he was
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: told and who possessed authority to guarantee it. Without that evidence,
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  Speaker 1: disappointment with prison conditions is unlikely to establish that the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: pleas were involuntary. Colberger is further alleging that potentially exculpatory
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  Speaker 1: discovery was held from him during the plead discussions that
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  Speaker 1: assertion could implicate their prosecutorial disclosure obligations or the effectiveness
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of his own attorneys. The distinction matters because the legal
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: analysis changes depending on who possessed the information. If prosecutors
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: withheld material evidence from the defense, the court would examine
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  Speaker 1: whether a constitutional disclosure violation occurred. If defense counsel possessed
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  Speaker 1: the evidence but failed to re view it or explain it,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the issue would fall more directly under ineffective assistance. Coburger
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  Speaker 1: must identify the evidence with specificity, rather than referring generally
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  Speaker 1: to undisclosed material. He must also establish when the evidence
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  Speaker 1: was received, who reviewed it, and whether it would reasonably
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: have altered his decision. Evidence already known and litigated before
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  Speaker 1: the plea is not transformed into a newly discovered evidence
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  Speaker 1: merely because he now emphasizes it differently. His current allegations
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: therefore require a detailed reconstruction of the discovery process. The
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: defense files and laboratory records are likely to be indispensable
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  Speaker 1: to that reconstruction. Meanwhile, the disputed hair evidence is likely
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  Speaker 1: to become one of the most closely examined parts of
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the petition Coburger is invoking. Hair found in Eathan Chapin's hand,
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  Speaker 1: as though it may point toward an unknown assailant. Available
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  Speaker 1: reporting indicates that a defense retained expert tested the hair
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  Speaker 1: and concluded that it matched Shapin must verify that history
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  Speaker 1: through actual records, rather than relying solely on public account.
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  Speaker 1: If the hair was tested, disclosed and explained before the plea,
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  Speaker 1: Colburger will struggle to present it as hidden exculpatory evidence.
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  Speaker 1: If testing was incomplete or the result was misrepresented to him,
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  Speaker 1: his claim may require further examination. The location of the
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  Speaker 1: hair gives it a parent dramatic significance, but location alone
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  Speaker 1: does not establish that it came from an attacker. A
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  Speaker 1: victim may naturally have possessed his own hair or environmental
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  Speaker 1: debris in his hand during a violent struggle. Scientific interpretation
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  Speaker 1: must replace speculation on that point. The petition's treatment of
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  Speaker 1: the hair will reveal whether Colburger possesses a genuinely unresolved
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  Speaker 1: forensic issue or his repackaging evidence his defense already evaluated.
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  Speaker 1: Coburger is also relying on the broader existence of unidentified
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: biological material found during the investigation. Unknown DNA can sound
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  Speaker 1: exculpatory when described without context in an occupied student of residence. However,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: biological material may come from residents, friends, visitors, workers, or
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  Speaker 1: ordinary environmental transfer. The location and nature of each sample
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  Speaker 1: determine its importance. DNA found on the suspected murder weapon
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  Speaker 1: would carry a greater weight than DNA found on frequently
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  Speaker 1: touched communal surface. Coburger must therefore connect any unidentified sample
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  Speaker 1: to the killings, rather than merely prove that unknown genetic
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  Speaker 1: material existed somewhere in the house. He must also explain
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  Speaker 1: why the unidentified material undermines the DNA attributed to him
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: on the knife sheath. The presence of another person's DNA
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  Speaker 1: does not automatically erase his own. Unless the samples point
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  Speaker 1: coherently toward a different perpetrator, they may create mystery without
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: establishing innocence. Any claim based on newly discovered evidence faces
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: its own demanding requirements. Coburger must establish that the evidence
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: is genuinely new, rather than information available before he entered
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  Speaker 1: the pleas. He must also show that reasonable diligence would
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  Speaker 1: not have uncovered it earlier. The evidence must be credible
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  Speaker 1: and important enough to affect the outcome. Information that merely
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  Speaker 1: repeats an old defense argument may not qualify. Neither will
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  Speaker 1: evidence useful only from minor impeachment or speculation. Coberger had
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  Speaker 1: a large defense team that spent years reviewing forensic reports,
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  Speaker 1: digital records, and discovery. His former attorneys filed extensive motions
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  Speaker 1: demonstrating detailed navigation of the prosecution's case. That history makes
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: it difficult to argue that a decisive exonerating fact remain
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  Speaker 1: completely hidden until after sentencing. The difficulty does not make
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: relief impossible, but it raises the level of proof his
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  Speaker 1: current lawyers will need to present. Attorney Greg Rouch has
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: now been appointed to represent Coburger in the post conviction proceedings.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: The appointment does not mean the court has concluded that
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Coberger's claims possess merit. It ensures that the complicated allegations
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: can be investigated and presented through council. Rausch must review
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the handwritten petition, the plea record, the former defense files,
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  Speaker 1: and the evidence Colburger describes as exculpatory. He must determine
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: which allegations have factual support and which cannot survive legal scrutiny.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: He may amend, narrow, or reorganize the claims. After completing
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: that review, The state will then have an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: challenge the petition and seek dismissal of legally insufficient allegations.
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  Speaker 1: The judge may decide some issues from the written record
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  Speaker 1: without conducting a full hearing. Material factual disputes, however, could
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  Speaker 1: eventually require testimony and additional evidence. The case is therefore
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: at an early procedural stage, rather than on the verge
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  Speaker 1: of an immediate new trial. If the court permits an
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  Speaker 1: evidentiary hearing, the proceeding will focus on how strongong the
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: pleas are, rather than immediately retrying the murder. Coburger may
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: testify about the advice, promises and pressure he claims to
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  Speaker 1: have experienced. His former attorneys may respond with their recollections
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  Speaker 1: and documentary records. Members of his family may be called
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: because he says they participated in many plead discussions. Experts
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: may address the hair evidence, DNA testing, or other discovery
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  Speaker 1: referenced in the petition. Prosecutors can rely heavily on the
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  Speaker 1: written plea agreement and the recording of Coburger's morn answers.
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  Speaker 1: The judge will need to determine which witnesses are credible
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  Speaker 1: and which accounts are supported by objective evidence. Contradictions between
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  Speaker 1: Coburger's testimony and contemporaneous records may prove especially important. A
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: hearing would give him an opportunity to prove his allegations,
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  Speaker 1: but it would also expose them to rigorous cross examination.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing in the current appointment of Council guarantees at the
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  Speaker 1: court will grant such a hearing. Now, the state is
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: preparing to defend the convictions and the plea process. Idaho
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General Raoul Labrador has publicly stated that his office
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  Speaker 1: stands ready to ensure that justice is carried out. Prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: are likely to emphasize that Colburger voluntarily accepted a bargain
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  Speaker 1: that saved them from the death penalty. They can point
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  Speaker 1: to the experience of his former legal team and the
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  Speaker 1: years of litigation preceding the agreement. They can also rely
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  Speaker 1: on the detailed courtroom inquiry conducted before the judge accepted
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  Speaker 1: the pleas. The state's going to argue that the defendant
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  Speaker 1: cannot undo sworn admissions through unsupported allegations made after arriving
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  Speaker 1: in prison. They may also contend that the allegedly exculpatory
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  Speaker 1: evidence was already known, tested, or legally insignificant. Coberger's petition
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  Speaker 1: will therefore face opposition at every major point. The state
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  Speaker 1: does not currently have to prove the murder charges again.
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  Speaker 1: Coburger first has to prove that a constitutional or a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: fundamental defect justifies real opening the judgment. And while Brian
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Kolberger certainly has every right to attempt an appeal, I
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  Speaker 1: think that we have to remember that his effort is
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: also inflicting a renewed emotional cost on the victims' families.
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  Speaker 1: They endured the investigation, pre trial, litigation, plea hearing, sentencing,
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  Speaker 1: and years of public attention. The agreement allowed them to
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  Speaker 1: believe that they would not have to sit through a
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  Speaker 1: graphic capital trial. His present petition threatens to remove that
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  Speaker 1: certainty without providing them with a fuller explanation for the murders.
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  Speaker 1: Family members have already condemned the attempt and described it
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  Speaker 1: as another source of pain. Their anger cannot decide the
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  Speaker 1: legal merits, because constitutional rights must be protected even in
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  Speaker 1: the most devastating cases. Nevertheless, the human cost of reopening
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a prosecution is part of why courts demand a substantial
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: legal showing finality is not merely an administrative preference for
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  Speaker 1: people who have organized their lives around the end of
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: the case. It's one component of the justice a valid
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: conviction is intended to provide. The court must therefore distinguish
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  Speaker 1: carefully between a genuine constitutional injustice and a convicted defendant's
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  Speaker 1: attempt to escape the consequences of his own decision. If
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Coburger succeeds in withdrawing his pleas, the result will not
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  Speaker 1: be an immediate declaration of innocence or released from prison.
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  Speaker 1: The original charges can return, and prosecutors can resume preparing
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  Speaker 1: the case for trial. The state may also attempt to
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  Speaker 1: restore the death penalty, because the agreement removing it would
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  Speaker 1: have been undone. Coburger cannot logically expect to discard his
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  Speaker 1: admissions while permanently retaining the bargain's most valuable protection. Extensive
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  Speaker 1: litigation would likely follow over the legal consequences of vacating
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  Speaker 1: the agreement. The defense and prosecution could return to disputes
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  Speaker 1: over DNA digital evidence, alternative suspects, experts, and trial preparation
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  Speaker 1: witnesses might again be requied tired to testify about the
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: crime and its aftermath. Meanwhile, the victim's families could once
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  Speaker 1: more face the ordeal. The agreement was designed to prevent
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  Speaker 1: a successful petition, would therefore restore uncertainty rather than establish exoneration.
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  Speaker 1: Colberger is asking to exchange four guaranteed life sentences for
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  Speaker 1: a trial that could again place his life in jeopardy.
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  Speaker 1: The University of Idaho murders began with four stolen lives,
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  Speaker 1: and the current litigation must never be allowed to erase
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  Speaker 1: that central truth. Kailee Gonstalvis Madison Mogan, Xana Kernodle, and
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Ethan Chapin remain the heart of this case. Now. Colberger
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  Speaker 1: has the right to prove a genuine constitutional violation if
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: one occurred. He does not have the right to withdraw
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  Speaker 1: his pleas merely because prison has made the bargain less
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  Speaker 1: attractive to him. At present, his petition contains allegations rather
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: than judicial findings. His newly appointed attorney must investigate those allegations,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the state must act for them, and the court must
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: apply the demanding standard required after sentencing. If credible evidence
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: establishes that his pleas were involuntary or produced by constitutionally
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: defective representation, the court must provide the relief the law requires.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: If the evidence shows that he knowingly accepted life imprisonment
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: to avoid execution. The court should reject his attempt to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: rewrite the decision. Justice demands fairness to the accused, but
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: it also demands respect for sworn admissions, valid judgments, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: families who have already endured enough. Unless Coberger proves the
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  Speaker 1: manifest injustice he now alleges his guilty, please, in life
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: sentences should remain exactly where he placed them when he
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: stood before the court and admitted responsibility. All right, folks,
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  Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this series. All the
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
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  Speaker 1: the description box.