Bryan Kohberger Sends Victims' Families Sickening Message from Prison

Did you on or about that same date in. Moscow, Idaho. kill and murder Kaylee Goncalves, a. human being? Yes. And did you do that willfully, unlawfully, deliberately, and with. premeditation and malice aforethought? Yes. This guy, Bryan Kohberger, the man. who viciously murdered four college. students at the University of Idaho, is. still making trouble for the families of. the victims behind bars. And wait till. you hear his new arguments for why he. shouldn't have to fork over any more. money to them. Welcome to Sidebar,

presented by Law&Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, before we jump into this, this is a Law&Crime legal alert. So, there are allegations right now claiming. that online apps like DraftKings, ESPN. Bet, BetMGM, Bet365, Fanatics. Sportsbook, Caesar's Sportsbook, that. they are engineered for addiction. These. multi-billion dollar companies allegedly. continue to put profit over safety. Every small payout, free bet, boosted. parlay, that can trigger a dopamine rush. that creates dependency and a. destructive habit. They can keep users.

feeling hooked and trap people in a. cycle that can lead to serious financial. loss. Well, tell you what, our legal. sponsors, they are taking on the online. gambling industry to seek justice and. potential compensation. So, if you or a. loved one has struggled with addiction, financial hardship, or mental health. issues due to sports betting apps, then. visit gamblinglawsuits.com/sidebar. to take a short quiz and check your. eligibility to file a claim. You would. think that the man who brutally murdered. four college students in cold blood, the. man who admitted to this, Did you.

on November 13th, 2022. enter the residence at 1122 King Road in. Moscow, Idaho with the intent to commit. the felony crime of murder? Yes. Did you. on November 13th, 2022. in Latah County, state of Idaho. kill and murder Madison Mogen, a human. being? Yes. And did you do that willfully,

unlawfully, deliberately, and with. premeditation and malice aforethought? Yes. And we know that he pled guilty, by. the way, to all the murders here. Kaylee. Goncalves, Maddie Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, by the way, as well as to. burglary. And we know that he was. sentenced to four consecutive terms of. life in prison. Now, you would think that this guy, Bryan Kohberger, as he languishes away. in a prison cell forever, that he could. do no more harm to the victims' family. members, right? Doesn't seem to be the. case. His legal team is essentially.

arguing that he doesn't have to pay the. victims' families for what he did, or. anything more. Arguing in part, you know. what? They got paid enough from GoFundMe. campaigns that were set up. So, let me. explain this, okay? When Kohberger pled. guilty, he was also ordered to pay. restitution as well. It's basically. reimbursing victims' family members for. the crime. Now, it appears the parties, at one point, the prosecution and the. defense, they agreed that he should pay. about $29,000. So, in the filing that establishes this,

the stipulation, there was over $14,000. that was going to be owed to the crime. victims' compensation program, which was. established in Idaho to assist victims. of crime with costs related to treatment. for injuries sustained as a result of a. crime, that's actually the definition. Almost $6,000 to Jim and Stacy Chapin, and over $8800 to Jeffrey Kirk Kernodle. However, prosecutors had apparently. requested that the court order Kohberger. to pay an extra $20,000 for Kaylee's.

parents, Kristi and Steve Goncalves, and. almost $7,000 to Madison's mother, Karen. Laramie. And this was seemingly in. relation to travel expenses and. accommodations, at least according to. the defense. Well, Kohberger's defense. is rejecting this. They are fighting. back. They're saying he shouldn't have. to pay this. Why? I'm going to read you. from the defense's filing, and it's. titled Defendant's Objection to the. State's Request for Additional. Restitution. It says in part, quote, The. plea agreement is unambiguous about the. restitution categories Mr. Kohberger.

agreed to pay, and once receipts and. verification were provided, he. stipulated accordingly. Given the. express language in the plea agreement, the only additional receipts submitted. that may fall within the contractual. terms are those for the urns. The state. has an obligation to stand by the terms. of the plea agreement that Mr. Kohberger. relied upon. And then they define in. this what economic loss means under. Idaho law. Things like value of property. taken, destroyed, broken, or other. harms, lost wages, and direct.

out-of-pocket losses or expenses such as. medical expenses resulting from the. criminal conduct. Now, it doesn't. include less tangible damage such as. pain and suffering, wrongful death, or. emotional distress. Then the defense. argues, okay, if you take that. definition, if you look here, the. families, they argue, they've already. been paid out from GoFundMe campaigns, citing how there was one for Madison and. Kaylee that raised over $73,000. They cite how there's another one for. Karen Laramie specifically that raised.

almost $49,000, and that this one was specifically for. travel to attend hearings in the case. The defense then cites another GoFundMe. for Steve and Kristi that apparently. raised over $85,000 again for the. purpose of travel and attending the. hearings. They argue that these families. didn't suffer an economic loss, what I. defined before. Then Kohberger's defense. makes another argument, that he can't. pay it. They cite Idaho law on when the. court should consider restitution to be.

appropriate in a case, that you have to. look to, quote, the need and earning. ability of the defendant. So, they. write, Mr. Kohberger has no ability to. earn money or pay money given his four. consecutive life sentences plus 10. years. Unlike other cases where the. Idaho courts have ordered restitution. for short and long prison sentences, Mr. Kohberger's is different. He will never. have the ability to pay restitution, and. even though he stipulated to restitution. amounts, there is no foreseeable ability. for him to ever make payment. Under.

Idaho law, he will never be able to. profit by way of book, movie, or. entertainment of any kind. And they are. right. There is a reference in Idaho law. that says that anyone who enters into a. contract with somebody who's convicted. of a crime to create a reenactment of. the crime through a movie, a book, a TV. program, or that there's some. entertainment program that documents the. accused's feelings or thoughts or. opinions on the crime, that that money. that they make off of that, that that. has to go to the state treasurer, and.

then the state treasurer puts that money. in an escrow account for the victims of. these crimes. So, to summarize, the. filing says that these are the reasons. that Bryan Kohberger shouldn't have to. pay these additional amounts to the. families. One, the plea agreement. specified funeral expenses and funds. reimbursed through Idaho's crime victim. compensation fund in an amount to be. determined within 60 days from July. 23rd, 2025. Mr. Kohberger stipulated to. those amounts resulting in court orders. in the amount of $28,956.88. on August 29th, 2025. Two, the.

additional funds sought do not qualify. as an economic loss under Idaho code. because Steve and Kristi Goncalves and. Karen Laramie received extensive funds. through multiple GoFundMe campaigns that. specifically asked for and covered the. expenses sought. And three, Mr. Kohberger has no ability now or in the. future to pay restitution because he is. serving four consecutive life sentences. plus 10 years. And then it goes on to. say, for all of the reasons stated. above, Mr. Kohberger objects to the.

request for additional restitution. He. waives his own attendance at a hearing. on this matter and requests that he not. be transported because his defense. counsel will be present. So, is he. right? Let's talk about it. So, now I. want to bring in Mark Weaver, prosecutor, former deputy attorney. general. Thank you so much for coming. on. Really good to see you. Let's broad. picture think about this. So, first of. all, is restitution common in murder. cases? Does it depend upon which state. we're talking about? Yeah, victim restitution is driven by.

state law, and in most states there's a. fund that crime victims and their. families can draw from, and normally we want to see the person. who caused the crime, the criminal, in. this case the murderer, putting money. into that fund. But as so often happens, the people who commit these most violent. crimes have very little financial. resources. That appears to be what might. be happening here in Idaho. Yeah, I want. to get into that. But but generally speaking, how much. usually is restitution?

What is. What have you seen? What have the. amounts been? Well, it depends on the circumstances. The The victims' restitution funds are. not meant to be a substitute for a civil. lawsuit against, in this case, the. killer. Every victim of a crime has a. criminal case that the prosecutors. bring, but they also have a civil case. where they could sue for the damages. done to them. These compensation funds. are typically supposed to reimburse for. victims thing things like hotel costs,

travel costs, out-of-pocket work cost. It's supposed to be restitution and. compensation, not necessarily the sort. of civil damages and punitive damages. you might get if those victims were to. sue the criminal in a civil case. And let's get into this. Has anybody. ever been able to pay it? I mean, we'll. get into this I I just want to. Kohberger's arguments, but before we get. specifically into his case, how often can people actually pay it? And if they can't pay it, I I hate to.

say this, but. you know, practically, why even order it. in the first place if there's no way. they can pay it? Well, Sean Combs paid it, right? It's. But he's a rare defendant, you know, a. criminal who has so much money that he's. able to make these payments. Judges. routinely order fines and restitution. knowing full well that they may never be. paid. In one of the cases here that. Law&Crime covered that I'm prosecuting. about a baby mauled to death by a pit. bull, the judge ordered a fine. I don't. expect that'll be be paid. The defendant.

doesn't have that kind of money. In rare. cases, if the if the criminal comes into. money somehow, then it can be taken. either from them directly or from their. prison account. I would imagine, and. this is something that the defense said, it would make more sense in shorter. prison sentences, right? If they get out. in 2 years, they go back to a career, for the rest of their life, if they're. making an earning, if they're if they're. they're have a career and they're making. money, they have to like what, every. month contribute to that fund or every. month pay out that restitution? I mean,

this will basically be a part of their. life until they pay it off, right? It's. like a debt. Uh is that how it usually. works? So, it makes more sense in. shorter prison terms? Yeah, what typically happens is the. state victims compensation fund pays out. the restitution to the the victims or. the family of the victims, and then they. can seek compensation back from the. criminal, as you said, if the criminal. goes out and starts earning a job. So, the the salary can be leaned, if you. will. Uh take money from the salary week. by week, or if they come into other.

money, or if they own property, there. can be a lien put on that. There's a lot. of ways to go, but in this case, of. course, we have a life sentence. It's a. difficult situation. >> Let let's talk about that. So, let's get. right we'll start from the the last. argument, one of the middle arguments. backwards. He's life in prison. There's no way he's. getting out. And there's no ability for. him to profit off of his crimes. I. mentioned before, under Idaho law, he. can't make interview or TV show. If he's. in life in prison, there's no way he's. earning money from behind bars. I I. guess that's a fair argument for his.

defense to make. I mentioned it before, the Idaho law, if he were to enter into. an agreement with some sort of studio or. producer or what have you, and they make. something that earns money, it goes. again, my understanding is to the state. treasurer who then puts it into an. escrow account for the victims' family. members. I guess that's a way that he. could pay it off. I I maybe I'm looking. at the wrong way. Well, that's how it's supposed to work. These have been named Son of Sam laws, based on the horrific killer in New York. back in the 1970s. In some states, Son.

of Sam laws that go too far have been. struck down on First Amendment grounds. I'm not saying that's going to happen. here, but let me give a for instance. Let's say he takes up painting as a. hobby and decides to paint and then sell. those uh paintings to people. Uh he's. not telling the story of the crime. Maybe he's painting landscapes. Um if if. this if the Idaho law were to stop that. money from going forward, I could see. his lawyers bringing a First Amendment. challenge against that. I don't know.

what's going to happen, but that's one. odd example that it could change the. outcome here. And it does make me wonder if you really. had a defendant who was remorseful for. their crimes and said, I I want to help. the victims' family members. I committed. a terrible crime. I can't take it back, but maybe I can help them in some way. You might have a criminal defendant who. does something from behind bars, earns. money, and make sure it goes to the. victims' family members. I'm not saying. that is even what Brian Kohberger would. do, cuz there's been no indication he. feels any remorse or feels anything. towards these families, but I guess.

that's a possibility. Wouldn't you like to think that that. should be the big picture here? Uh he's not self-aware enough to know. this. It's such a bad look by him, by. the defendant uh by the by his defense. lawyers who are filing these motions. saying, "Don't make him pay this money.". Uh it's the whole thing is tone-deaf. across the board. These families have. been through so much suffering. The. notion that you would actually have your. lawyers fighting to stop some of these. judgments being put in place is really. troubling. Who's paying these lawyers to.

do this now that we know he's he's. guilty and he's going to be in prison. for the rest of his life? >> Yeah, I I that's a good point. Why fight. it? Why fight? If he can't pay it, he. can't pay it. If they order him to pay. it, what what are they going to do? How. are they going to punish him more? I. mean, why even submit a filing like. this? And look, I'm an attorney. I get. it. I understand there's a legal. argument to make for anybody. But at the. same time, what what's the practical. point of doing this? It's not like the. family members of the the victims can go. after his parents or Brian Kohberger's. family here, right?

Yeah, there there there's always a. possibility of a negligence suit if the. parents had some involvement. We don't. know any facts like that. I don't think. that's going to happen here. But your. thought was the one that came to mind. when I first read about this, which was. these lawyers had a lot of things they. could do that day. Why did they decide. to do this, given that it sent such a. terrible message that this man has never. learned his lesson and apparently never. will? Should family members generally be paid. for uh for travel and accommodation to.

go to the court hearings? Is that. something that restitution should cover? That's the most common example of. out-of-pocket expenses that are easy to. prove. It's the emotional damages, the. loss of consortium, the pain and. suffering. That's so hard to quantify. But these families would not have had to. travel to Idaho and stay in hotels and. rent cars just to be able to come to. these hearings but for the fact that. Brian Kohberger committed these horrific. murders. So, this is classic victims. compensation. I'm glad states have these. funds that other defendants pay into.

through their fines, and that helps. create the the pool for these funds. But. uh in this case, uh the amount of money. they might ever get is very small. compared to the loss they all suffered. And I got to say, this is the big. headline grabber here. I I say this with. the caveat I mentioned before, I. understand a defense attorney, any. attorney is trying to make it whatever. legal argument they can make, whatever. creative legal argument they can make. But you got to know you're going to get. backlash for it. So, the argument is, well, you know, they don't qualify, the.

victims' family members don't qualify. uh for economic loss because they. already got enough money from the. GoFundMe pages. Optics-wise, it's pretty. it leaves a really bad taste. But from a. legal point of view, is that an. argument? I mean, isn't it separate? I doubt that whatever GoFundMe money. they raised is enough to cover all the. out-of-pocket expense of these families, because every family member has the. right to come to these hearings and be. apprised. Some of them had to hire. lawyers to protect their identities and.

advise them. Those are certainly. out-of-pocket expenses. You're right, it's a horrible look. And I you know, I. know lawyers have to do their job, but I. get to choose what I do typically, and I. don't want to be the one who sits down. and types up that that motion and says, "You know, they got money from GoFundMe. Why do they need anything more?" It's. just it's just a really bad look for. lawyers, right? It's a bad look for. lawyers. It's a bad look. I mean, but. but from a legal point of view, this. goes in front of a judge who's supposed. to look at the black and white of this, is that an actual argument? If they say,

if the judge looks and says, "You know. what? They got enough money through a. GoFundMe to cover travel and. accommodations." Again, I'm disagreeing. with this argument. I think I'm pretty. clear about that. >> got to be reasonable. You you you. probably know I sit as a part-time. acting judge and magistrate over the. years. I once had victims ask for. compensation in a burglary case, and. they wanted to have some of the stuff. that had been broken replaced, and they. wanted to have their house cleaned. because the guy had eaten food in their. house. But then they wanted also. compensation to buy a dog and a a new.

security system. And I drew the line at. that, because I said those are not. out-of-pockets from this particular. crime. So, a judge does have to make. sure that in fact the money that's being. asked for was paid out of pocket because. of this crime. But does it matter how. much money they have or how much they're. earning through other sources, whether. it's a career. >> that that's. because GoFundMe is such a recent. phenomena in American life, I don't. think we have case law on that. The. judge is going to have to use his or her. best judgment. If I were the judge, I. would not look at that money again,

because I know there are so many other. expenses out there. But we could get new. case law out of this. And this is a. unique case where you're seeing, I mean, if the these numbers are correct, a. tremendous amount of money that went. through a GoFundMe because of the. horrible, brutal nature of this crime. and how the community and the nation. wanted to help these victims' family. members. So, it could be interesting to. see from a legal point of view. What. about the argument, "Hey, listen, he. signed this plea deal, the prosecution. signed it, right? We all agreed, there. was a stipulation to the amount that had. to be paid as part of restitution. An.

agreement is an agreement, can't be. changed. Can't add anything.". Well, everyone who does crimes in Idaho. are governed by Idaho law, and so he's. going to have to follow Idaho law with. respect to victims compensation. Now, if. there's an argument that once you sign. this plea deal that you're going to have. to pay the fines, the judge ordered. fines and some compensation, this is. just on top of that. It's all rather. academic, because again, he's got this. small prison commissary account. I think. the state can only take out 20% of it, which in my world, that's a little low.

I think maybe it ought to be the other. way. Maybe let them let the prisoner. keep 20% and let victims take out 80%. But if you choose to do your crime in. Idaho, then you're going to be bound by. Idaho law. In the off chance that Brian. Kohberger has supporters and they give. him money, they donate him money, can. that go to the restitution fund? I think it could. And again, I'd have to. look at the statute that that prevents. him from profiting from his crime. I. told you these been challenged these. laws have been challenged based on First. Amendment over the years. So, if it's. rather broad, it might not be.

enforceable, as frustrating as that. might be. It's also an odd. characteristic of serial killers that. they have fan bases. Used to be back in. the day, just fans would simply write. letters and send photos of themselves. But now they have the ability to raise. money and perhaps get it to him. Uh if. I'm the judge, I'm going to use that as. a pool of money to give to the victims. Two things. What do you think the judge. is going to do here? A- A- And is it. going to get to a judge? What's the. process for this? Is this now going to. be a long, protracted battle in the. court? I doubt we see any hearings. This is.

kind of motion that can be resolved on. paper. Each side gets to make their. point. The judge will issue what an. order. I don't imagine this is going to. take much court time. Now, while I have you, there's been some. other Brian Kohberger updates uh that I. want to talk about. So, it was reported. that Kohberger had ended up agreeing to. plead guilty, and there was a lot of. question about why he did this at the. time. That he ended up agreeing to plead. guilty after the prosecutors had. announced that his sister, Amanda. Coberger, was going to be called as a.

witness. That she was actually, by the. way, going to be testifying for the. defense as well as a mitigation witness. for the sentencing phase. And I think. there were probably a number of reasons. that Coberger plead guilty, partly. because he couldn't get the DNA evidence. tossed out. He was denied the ability to. point the finger at other suspects, which I've gone on record and say is. pretty disgusting that he was about to. point the finger at other suspects and. then pleads guilty like just days later. It's like you knew you were basically. pointing the finger at innocent people. But is that something, the timeline. that's interesting to you? I mean, do. you think that that was a reason for why. he decided to plead guilty? Either he.

didn't want his sister to have to go. through it. Maybe he was worried what. she was going to testify to. Is that. something you've seen in other cases? What do you make of that? I have seen. this in a lot of cases. Defendants often. have a cold heart towards their their. victims, but they also have often have a. warm heart towards their family. In this. case, he maybe didn't want to put his. sister through this. That's one factor. of many. You can't ignore the fact that. that they had this guy every which way. His lawyers knew that. I was with you on. the notion that they shouldn't have been. putting forward this some other dude did. it theory when they knew he had done it.

But when defendants make decisions to. plead guilty, particularly when you're. taking the death penalty off the table I. worked on a death penalty case a year. ago where this happened. We brought the. death penalty as a charge. We were. willing to take it off the table under. certain circumstances. And so the. defendant had to make that decision. whether he was willing to plead guilty. And so usually it's several different. factors. And with somebody that is odd. as Brian Coberger, it's just hard to. figure out what's going through his head. when he makes that decision. And I got to tell you, Mark, you know, you wonder what this trial would have.

looked like, whether it could have. inflicted even more pain. You know, NewsNation uh recently reported that. Kaylee's sister posted a Tik Tok that. the prosecution was poised to present. evidence that some of the wounds that. Kaylee sustained were inflicted after. she stopped fighting Coberger, saying, quote, "I don't want to speculate on. what he, Coberger, was doing, if it was. to cause pain or whatnot, but these. wounds did not make a lot of sense." And. she went on to say that investigators. told her the wounds appeared to be, quote, "experimental." That's pretty.

disturbing, to say the least. And you do. wonder, at the same time, I know there. was mixed reaction about him pleading. guilty. But in the sense of what this. trial could have looked like, what. jurors would have been exposed to, what. the victims' family members would have. been exposed to, it's pretty. it's pretty brutal. This is hard stuff. I got into this line. of work because I I like to injure. trials. I like prosecuting violent. criminals. But every time I do a trial, I'm reminded that those jurors didn't. choose this. I chose this line of work.

The jurors didn't. They got a summons in. the mail. They were told to come to the. courthouse. They're being responsible. people. And then sadly, we have to. subject them to some of the most. horrific images they've ever seen in. their life, which most of them will. never get out of their heads. And of. course, the family members have to sit. there and see these images as well. It's. one of the reasons why sometimes the. best thing is to settle a case and and. let it plead out to something else, which is what happened here. Mark Weaver, thanks so much for taking. the time. Really appreciate it. Always good to be with you, Jesse. And. that's all we have for you right now.

here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcast. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time. [Music].