Bryan Kohberger's Vocal Support Of The Death Penalty Revealed After Plea Deal Angered Idaho Victims' Families

Bryan Kohberger allegedly supported the death penalty, despite later trying to avoid it through a plea deal in his murder case.

Newly unsealed documents detailed how the convicted murderer previously argued in favor of capital punishment during his criminology PhD classes, even using an example that distressed a classmate to defend his point.

The documents also confirmed that Bryan Kohberger was the only one in his class to support the death penalty and that he further believed victims' families should have the power to decide whether or not it should be applied.

Weeks before Bryan Kohberger was set to stand trial for the murders of four University of Idaho students, he signed a plea deal that guaranteed he would not face the death penalty, a punishment that remained on the table had the case gone forward.

Ironically, newly unsealed documents obtained by People Magazine have now revealed that the former criminology PhD student was a vocal supporter of capital punishment despite everyone in his class being against it.

Not only was he in favor of the death penalty and believed that the victim's family should determine whether or not it should be applied, but the convicted murderer also had no qualms about using disturbing examples to defend his viewpoint.

According to the documents, he once challenged a classmate during a debate by asking her to vividly imagine how she would react if her adolescent daughter were the victim of a sickening crime.

"Kohberger asked her if her 12-year-old daughter was raped and murdered if she would support the death penalty," wrote Det. Michael Van Leuven, who interviewed the lady while investigating the murder case.

The woman's encounter with Kohberger took a heavy toll on her, as she burst into tears while being interviewed by the Idaho State Police during the murder case.

Recalling her interactions with the 30-year-old, the woman claimed she felt targeted by Kohberger during his time at Washington State University.

According to her, the former PhD student would often trap her at her desk and then "talk her into the ground" with his weird ideologies and discriminatory comments.

As part of her revelations about Kohberger, she also claimed to have seen him "being rude to a deaf student" whom he asked whether "she would be comfortable procreating given the fact that she had a disability."

Seemingly angered by his question and his behavior towards other women in the class, the woman said she confronted him but received only a dismissive response from Kohberger.

"I care how you feel, but you are wrong," Kohberger allegedly responded, as stated in the documents.

Kohberger also had run-ins with other members of the WSU community, which quickly led many to form a poor opinion of him, per People magazine.

In the unsealed documents, one staff member who was aware of Kohberger's behavior said that many complaints described his comments as "homophobic, ableist, xenophobic, and misogynistic in nature."

When the staff member confronted him, Kohberger tried to defend himself by saying his comments were misunderstood.

Meanwhile, a different woman within the community described Kohberger as a misogynist who made her feel "deeply uncomfortable" during his short stint at WSU.

To her, Kohberger was a "narcissist," who "never displayed empathy toward another person."

She further claimed in the documents that he was someone who wanted "to be seen as the strongest, smartest, most important person in the room."

As reported by The Blast, Kohberger's behavior appeared so troubling that a complaint was filed against him with administrators just days into his first semester of the doctoral program in criminology in August 2022.

Within the next three months, 12 additional complaints of various kinds followed, many of them coming from women within the WSU community.

At the time Kohberger's murders were being investigated, one student told authorities that he was known for "being a d-ck," a statement that further indicated how widespread his bad reputation had become.

According to the documents, administrators eventually took action by organizing discrimination training for first-year doctoral students.

Several individuals later confirmed this effort by the officials in interviews with the Idaho State Police.

The administrators also regularly discussed Kohberger in their weekly disciplinary meetings, although it remains unclear if any punishments were issued against the convicted murderer at the time.