Kohberger’s family backs the plea-withdrawal fight. Family support is not a legal standard.

A family’s statement is not a court filing, and post-conviction relief is not a new trial. Bryan Kohberger’s relatives said this week they support his bid to undo the 2025 guilty plea in the University of Idaho murders. That is love and messaging. It does not change the judgment. A plea taken on the record is designed to be final. To pull it, the petitioner has to show a legal defect — ineffective counsel, an involuntary colloquy, or another recognized ground — not that relatives now want a jury. Until a judge grants relief, four consecutive life sentences are the sentence.

As of Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, the family told ABC News their support was not meant as disregard for the victims’ families and that they want what they called a proper trial instead of what they called an improper plea. Those are their words to a reporter. They are not findings. The court still has a disqualification hearing on Judge Steven Hippler set for Oct. 15 and a tentative evidentiary date in June 2027 if the petition survives. A calendar date is not a grant.

Plea-withdrawal law is about finality. Prosecutors have already asked the court to dismiss the petition and pointed to the colloquy in which Kohberger admitted guilt. If the petition is denied, the convictions stay. If a judge someday lets the plea out, the death penalty can come back onto a trial docket. None of that has happened.