‘Saving his own rear end’: Alan Dershowitz tears into Idaho DA for going soft on Kohberger plea

Noted attorney Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that Idaho prosecutors failed to include a condition present in most plea bargains in the deal struck with admitted murderer Bryan Kohberger.

A judge in Idaho sentenced Kohberger to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole Wednesday after Kohberger accepted a plea bargain June 30 on four counts of first-degree murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin in November 2022, agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for not facing the death penalty. Dershowitz said during Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, “The Dershow,” that he had taken part in crafting plea bargains as a defense attorney, and one provision left out of the Kohberger deal befuddled him.

“What I don’t understand is the district attorney, and I just don’t understand the district attorney making a deal that didn’t require what deals almost always require,” Dershowitz said. “When you make a deal, when you get something in exchange for not getting long imprisonment or the death penalty, almost always the requirement is that you then fully disclose in great detail everything about what you did and anything about other people who may have done it with you. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. But full disclosure is always required.”

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“And in fact, the deals say, I know, I’ve signed these deals, I’ve drafted these, deals that any deviation from the truth means that the deal’s off and you can get the death penalty or you can get the longer prison term if you don’t tell the full and complete and whole and whole truth,” Dershowitz continued. “Now, when the defendants came through their lawyer… to the DA, I don’t know why the DA didn’t say, “All right, we’re prepared to consider um the possibility of eliminating the death penalty and in exchange for a plea of guilty and a waiver of all appeals. But you have to be willing to state either… in writing or both in the court, outside of the court, why you did this and precisely what you did, where you were, how did you get there, everything. You have to make a full and complete disclosure. And if you lie… we come back and give you the death penalty. What’s the downside of doing that?”

Prior to making the plea deal, the judge denied defense motions that would have allowed Kohberger’s attorneys to suggest that someone else committed the crime and to further delay the trial, which had been scheduled to start on August 11.

Idaho prosecutors had come under criticism for making the plea deal, since it took the death penalty off the table and Kohberger would not be required to provide details about the crime.

“Now, I don’t know whether the DA asked for it and the defendant said, ‘No, I won’t do it,’” Dershowitz said. “I can’t imagine that. Why would the defendant care? All he cared about was saving his own rear end, and he’s done that… he will die in prison.”