Kohberger ‘should not breathe life’: Gee sounds off after death penalty avoided

Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, an attorney for one victim’s family said.

Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times.

A change of plea hearing was set for Wednesday, but the family has asked prosecutors to delay it to give them more time to travel to Boise, Shanon Gray, an attorney representing the family of Kaylee Goncalves, said. Kohberger’s trial was set for August in Boise, where it was moved following pretrial publicity in rural northern Idaho.

“Kohberger should not breathe life within the next couple of months. He should not even exist anymore,” KIRO host Gee Scott said. “If, in the state of Idaho, they’re making a deal for him to plead guilty and just go life in prison after that, nobody will probably get the death penalty. I thought Idaho was one of those states because I could see Washington doing something like that. We had Gary Ridgway in this state, and we all know that that deal that he got.”

As part of Ridgway’s plea bargain, where he agreed to disclose the locations of still-missing women, he received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty.

Twenty-seven states currently have the death penalty in place, Washington not among them.

Victims’ families distraught over decision

“Now the families feel, or at least some of them, feel like they’re blindsided, and this is not what they want,” KIRO host Ursula Reutin said. “That all said, I also understand that the death penalty, especially post-Gary Ridgway, if someone killing more than 38 women does not get the death penalty, who gets the death penalty? Unless you’re in Texas or one of those states where it’s much easier and there is no fight. I’m not surprised, but my heart goes out to the families that feel like they’re not going to get justice.”

No motive has emerged for the killings, nor is it clear why the attacker spared two roommates who were in the home. Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video showed that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings.

“I’m thinking about the fact that he will have something that 17 million Americans probably won’t have after this beautiful bill goes through: health insurance,” Gee added. “Think about that for a second. This dude, Kohberger, will get three hots and a cot. He will get fed. He will get to read books. He won’t be in the outside world, so he will have to adjust to a new world. Working out a little bit. He could do some push-ups. He can do some sit-ups. He could breathe fresh air. He could read books. He could educate himself.”

“I was just going to say, the victim’s family says life in prison for Kohberger is adult childcare,” Ursula added. “Basically saying that inmates often get air conditioning, food, and even access to the internet.”

The murders shocked the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn’t had a homicide in about five years.

“I’m not trying to be funny. I am being serious. This dude doesn’t have to worry about being cut off from SNAP programs,” Gee said. “Doesn’t have to worry about Medicaid or anything like that. Everything will be provided for this man. So I’m sorry, I am for the death penalty, and if someone like this does not get the death penalty, then what are we talking about? This is a joke.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.