Moscow, Idaho - It's been 13 months since Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to stabbing four University of Idaho students to death. With the convicted murderer looking to reverse his plea, is there a chance he'll walk free? Here's what we know.

There's been much chatter about the legalities surrounding Bryan Kohberger's recent and perplexing petition, in which he claims he was misled by his defense attorneys — including Anne Taylor — into pleading guilty. However, Ada County District Judge Steve Hippler asked Kohberger in July 2025 whether he was entering the plea voluntarily.

"I want to make sure that you actually committed the crimes to which you’re pleading guilty, because I don’t want you to plead guilty to a crime you didn’t commit," Hippler said at the July 2025 plea deal hearing. "Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?"

At the time, Kohberger responded, "Yes."

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However, in a ruling on Wednesday, Hippler granted Kohberger's request for new court-appointed counsel, according to court records. Hippler's latest action came just days after receiving Kohberger's handwritten request to withdraw his guilty plea in exchange for prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.

Kohberger is now alleging that he is innocent and that his attorneys provided him with misinformation about death row, claiming his legal counsel advised him to lie and gain a legal win by entering a "false plea."

But will Judge Hippler give him the chance to state his case in a new trial? TAG24 NEWS USA has reached out to Ada County for more information about the petition but did not hear back at the time of publishing.

In a statement provided to The New York Times last week, Kohberger claimed "a lot went wrong in those plea discussions," noting that he wants "that to be heard."

An attorney named Sharon Gray representing the Goncalves family, who lost Kaylee Goncalves in the quadruple stabbing homicide, told the Guardian, "People are forgetting about him."

"He has this opportunity to file this petition with a deadline coming up, so it’s not really a big surprise to us," Gray said. "He’s a narcissist who thinks he’s the smartest.”

Kohberger is currently serving four life sentences for the murders of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen.