Bryan Kohberger will no longer virtually attend a hearing in an Idaho courtroom on Thursday, October 15, after Judge Steven Hippler submitted a new filing in the case.
Kohberger’s appearance was canceled on the evening of Tuesday, October 13, after Hippler filed an order vacating the hearing, as seen in docs obtained by journalist Kevin Fixler and shared via X.
The order, which is dated as Wednesday, October 14, because it was filed after the court closed on Tuesday, stated that the hearing “will reset to a later date.” However, it does not appear that a new date was set for the hearing.
Hippler also filed an amended order governing proceedings, which also does not share an alternate date.
In the order, Hippler canceled the status hearing and evidentiary hearing that were both scheduled to take place in June 2027. He also told Kohberger, 31, and his legal team in the filing that they can ask that the court set dates for those two appearances on August 2, 2027.
Hippler made the filings just days before Kohberger was scheduled to virtually appear in court on Thursday for a hearing that will determine if the judge would continue to preside over the proceedings.
Kohberger and his defense team previously asked that Hippler be removed from the case in his bid for post-conviction relief following the judge’s involvement in the case. Hippler sentenced Kohberger to serve four life sentences after the former Washington State University criminology student pleaded guilty to the murders of Idaho college students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in July 2025.
Hippler did state in the order that Kohberger’s team can file any objections to the schedule in the next 14 days.
“This is nothing more than an extension of time to perfect our filings and for the Court to work through the various legal issues at hand,” Kohberger’s attorney Jason Goldman told People following the filing.
One year after he accepted a plea deal in the case, Kohberger filed a handwritten petition for post-conviction relief in July. At the time, he said that he had “ineffective assistance of counsel” and that his guilty plea was not entered “knowingly or voluntarily because [it] was induced by unkept promises” and “because of threats asserted by [his] legal counsel.”
The future of the case has not yet been determined, and prosecutors have filed a motion seeking to dismiss the case after Kohberger previously admitted to killing the four victims at their off campus home on November 13, 2022.
When Kohberger initially accepted his plea deal, he agreed to never appeal the case. Due to the agreement, Kohnerger’s only chance of taking the case to trial is if his post-conviction relief petition is approved.
If Kohberger’s case does go to trial and he’s found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
