Speaker 1: Hey, folks, It's July twenty third, and today the man
Speaker 1: who killed four University of Idaho students has an opportunity
Speaker 1: in open court to finally answer the question why why
Speaker 1: did he kill those four students? He has an opportunity
Speaker 1: to tell us, But will he? And with that, welcome
Speaker 1: to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: Robes.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of mystery in the sentencing of Coburger today,
Speaker 1: But here we are three years later, and we still
Speaker 1: don't have any idea why he killed these kids.
Speaker 3: And as excruciating as it is for the families, the
Speaker 3: parents of these four students to just accept the fact
Speaker 3: that their loved ones are gone and we're brutally murdered,
Speaker 3: but to have no idea why is just adding insult
Speaker 3: to injury. And so these families, with the exception of
Speaker 3: one of the victims' families, will be in court first
Speaker 3: of all together their own impact statements, their own victim
Speaker 3: impact statements.
Speaker 4: This is their first.
Speaker 3: Chance to directly address Brian Koberger, the man who has
Speaker 3: been well, he's now pleaded guilty to murdering these four students,
Speaker 3: to tell them the impact he's had on their lives,
Speaker 3: to tell them the lives he took away and took
Speaker 3: from this world. But yes, they're also hoping to hear
Speaker 3: something from him. They all want to know what his
Speaker 3: motive was, and right now no one knows.
Speaker 1: We all remember the crime was shocking, horrific enough at
Speaker 1: the time, but you're looking for an answer, like what
Speaker 1: was going on? What was the relationship even to these kids?
Speaker 1: There was none apparently that we can all tell. But
Speaker 1: it was so horrific. And here we are three years
Speaker 1: later that the family is finally there won't be a trial,
Speaker 1: and some were relieved, we don't have to have a trial.
Speaker 4: And some were upset about it.
Speaker 1: And some were upset. But this was supposed to be
Speaker 1: some type of finality, right when people finally, when victims'
Speaker 1: families finally see the person who's responsible go to prison,
Speaker 1: the trial is over, supposed to be the end of it,
Speaker 1: never be over until they get this answer. How could
Speaker 1: they ever rest in peace, quite frankly, until their families
Speaker 1: have some kind of finality and understanding about why this
Speaker 1: man did this.
Speaker 4: That's right, one legal expert said.
Speaker 3: Today could be if we did hear from Brian Coberger,
Speaker 3: and we did hear something, this could be what amounts
Speaker 3: to a legal funeral of sorts where you actually do
Speaker 3: get closure, and you do get answers, and you can
Speaker 3: finally put all of those gnawing, nagging questions to bed.
Speaker 3: But let's just take you back to November thirteenth, twenty
Speaker 3: twenty two, where Kaylee Goncales, Madison, Mogen Xana Kernodle, and
Speaker 3: Ethan Chapin were there in this off campus house. They
Speaker 3: were students there at the University of Idaho, and they
Speaker 3: were stabbed to death at their residence in the middle
Speaker 3: of the night. There were two other roommates there that
Speaker 3: evening who managed to survive, and one of them actually
Speaker 3: did and was able to tell police that she saw
Speaker 3: a masked man walking through their apartment. Those two roommates
Speaker 3: may also speak today. There's some anticipation that they may
Speaker 3: get up and address Brian Coberger as well, but ultimately
Speaker 3: DNA evidence from a sheath from the knife he used
Speaker 3: linked him directly to the crime, along with the online
Speaker 3: purchase of that knife and the sheath. They had surveillance
Speaker 3: video of his vehicle in the area and his own
Speaker 3: cell phone pinged to that tower nearby the site of
Speaker 3: the killing, so they had a lot of evidence, and
Speaker 3: they were seeking the prosecutors were seeking the death penalty,
Speaker 3: and at least one family member of one family wanted
Speaker 3: to see him put to death. They didn't want him
Speaker 3: to have life in prison, and they wanted a trial,
Speaker 3: and they wanted answers.
Speaker 4: They were hoping information would come out in that trial.
Speaker 1: The trial was going to happen up until a couple
Speaker 1: of months ago, because up until a couple of months
Speaker 1: ago he was still maintaining at least a not guilty
Speaker 1: plea in court and the trial was going to happen.
Speaker 1: They made an attempt in April at least to try
Speaker 1: to get the death penalty off the table. His defense
Speaker 1: lawyers did because he was recently diagnosed with autism asd
Speaker 1: autism spectrum disorder, and they made a case that, hey,
Speaker 1: because he has this, the Supreme Court is saying that
Speaker 1: this would amount a cruel and unusual punishment, the death
Speaker 1: penalty for someone who has this now. Uh huh. The
Speaker 1: judge rejected that, yes, he has whatever autism now, but
Speaker 1: that is not going to stop the prosecution from seeking
Speaker 1: the death penalty, And then negotiations started with the prosecution
Speaker 1: about pleading guilty and he is pled guilty. Four life sentences,
Speaker 1: no possibility of parole now short of the death penalty.
Speaker 1: That is as tough of a sentence as you're going
Speaker 1: to get, and it's not enough.
Speaker 4: Some people want their day in court.
Speaker 3: And look, this was a bit of a surprise guilty
Speaker 3: plead to a lot of people. It happened on July seconds,
Speaker 3: so just a couple weeks ago. And yes, he is
Speaker 3: going to prison for the rest of his life. But
Speaker 3: some family members are upset with prosecutors over the deal.
Speaker 3: They wanted input, they wanted to have a say and
Speaker 3: whether or not they were okay with that deal or not.
Speaker 3: So they were upset that they didn't get their day
Speaker 3: in court, which was supposed to be August eleventh, and
Speaker 3: this trial was supposed to last for three months. This
Speaker 3: was going to be a very public spectacle.
Speaker 4: But they were hoping to.
Speaker 3: Get a lot of information out because there had been
Speaker 3: a gag order for the last two and a half
Speaker 3: years and investigators were barred from sharing information or releasing
Speaker 3: anything not only to the public, but to the victims'
Speaker 3: families as well, so they have been in the dark.
Speaker 3: I watched an interview with one of the families who said,
Speaker 3: we don't even know how many times our daughter was stabbed.
Speaker 3: We don't even know where she was stabbed, we don't
Speaker 3: know how long it took. They want to know these details.
Speaker 3: I know it sounds macab, but when it's your child
Speaker 3: and you want to know, you want to know what
Speaker 3: happened to them. And many of these families they don't
Speaker 3: know specifically know their child was stabbed to death. And
Speaker 3: that's it.
Speaker 4: That's where it begins and ends.
Speaker 1: It's been three years, folks, and so much of what
Speaker 1: happens in trials. Yes, prosecutors want to hold on to information,
Speaker 1: want to keep it out of the public, but when
Speaker 1: the trial comes, all that stuff comes out. We're not
Speaker 1: having a trial. So now we're wondering, and they are
Speaker 1: pressing for prosecutors to start, like immediately releasing this information
Speaker 1: so that they could finally get some closure, maybe some
Speaker 1: finality with all this. But some families today do not
Speaker 1: want this to be happening. They don't want a sentencing hearing,
Speaker 1: they want information, they wanted a trial, they wanted the
Speaker 1: death penalty on the table. Can't take issue with the
Speaker 1: other family with however they feel right now. But today
Speaker 1: is a very important day. He has an opportunity to speak.
Speaker 1: We don't know.
Speaker 2: If he will yes.
Speaker 3: And this is all happening at eleven am Eastern time.
Speaker 3: This is when the hearing is going to begin, and
Speaker 3: folks have been lined up, people camped out overnight the
Speaker 3: public to try and get into this trial.
Speaker 4: There is tremendous public interest. They say. There's at least.
Speaker 3: Fifty people deep waiting in line to get into that
Speaker 3: court and have been for hours to see what happens today.
Speaker 3: But this is going to be live streamed. There are
Speaker 3: reporters in the courtroom and we're certainly going to be
Speaker 3: following it. And this may be so extensive that it
Speaker 3: carries on until Thursday. So this could be a two
Speaker 3: day sentencing hearing because the judge wants to make sure
Speaker 3: every single person who wants to speak, who wants to
Speaker 3: address Brian Coberger, gets the opportunity to and apparently there
Speaker 3: are quite a few victim impact statements that the court
Speaker 3: is expecting.
Speaker 1: I didn't see a list. Is there official count I
Speaker 1: didn't see.
Speaker 4: I didn't see it either.
Speaker 3: I just know that they because it's just been they've
Speaker 3: been expecting and some there. I think the family I
Speaker 3: believe the family of Ethan he they said they will
Speaker 3: not be there, and you know that's that's just such
Speaker 3: a personal decision whether you could even stand to be
Speaker 3: in that courtroom. And some people, some of the family
Speaker 3: members say, you know, wild horses couldn't.
Speaker 4: Hold them back. They will be there and they will
Speaker 4: be making statements.
Speaker 1: Coburger, I think he's been described. Yes he has autism.
Speaker 1: That was a recent diagnosis, but he has been described
Speaker 1: in court and when he's just a soft spoke and
Speaker 1: he doesn't seem to be a very outgoing individual. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much that has to do with the autism,
Speaker 1: but the argument that that could have kept him from
Speaker 1: from possibly getting the death penalty. The confusion, I say confusion.
Speaker 1: It's just he didn't know these kids. He was in
Speaker 1: school nearby. I think I don't think it was more
Speaker 1: than a twenty mile plus distance he was from, and
Speaker 1: I don't have that right, but he was close by.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was going to another school. Why he
Speaker 1: knew them, why he showed up, and why he did
Speaker 1: what he did. He attacked two of the students, I
Speaker 1: believe it was two women to the young ladies first,
Speaker 1: and authorities did come out at one point and say yes,
Speaker 1: it appears that he attacked and stabbed a couple of
Speaker 1: them while they were still asleep. So the two that
Speaker 1: were left, there were two other housemates, one of them
Speaker 1: you mentioned saw him. I cannot imagine how they feel
Speaker 1: and the answers now they want why were we spared?
Speaker 1: That is going to be with them the rest of
Speaker 1: their lives. So it is so key today. This is
Speaker 1: important for these families to have an opportunity, but this
Speaker 1: is a huge moment for these families for the rest
Speaker 1: of their lives and how it's going to go. Is
Speaker 1: he going to choose to speak? Folks? We still you
Speaker 1: remember that case. The first question who is it? It
Speaker 1: took him six weeks to find them, by the way
Speaker 1: before he was arrested.
Speaker 2: Who is it why? So there is not even I
Speaker 2: don't even see a lot of speculation, just makings why
Speaker 2: would he do this? The four people he did not know?
Speaker 3: Right, he was a PhD student, so a smart kid.
Speaker 3: He might have been socially awkward and yes, recently diagnosed
Speaker 3: with autism. But nothing makes sense, and that's why so
Speaker 3: many people are so I don't want to use the
Speaker 3: word fascinated, but perhaps it is a morbid curiosity because
Speaker 3: people always and look, oftentimes, the why is never a
Speaker 3: good enough answer. I've learned this. I know you probably
Speaker 3: have two covering crimes for so many years.
Speaker 4: It's always the first.
Speaker 3: Thing families want to know, and frankly, everyone wants to
Speaker 3: know why, and just oftentimes there isn't a good answer,
Speaker 3: and sometimes there's never an answer, and that's so hard
Speaker 3: to accept a motive.
Speaker 1: This is completely mind bob. You remember how horrific it
Speaker 1: was at the time when this happened to thinking, I mean,
Speaker 1: there were all kinds of theories about who could it be.
Speaker 1: You remember the police told people for a while, you
Speaker 1: know what, there's no threat to the public. You're cool.
Speaker 1: They came back later and said, you know what, remember
Speaker 1: when we said that, we're not sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, They're like, this was a targeted attack. No one
Speaker 3: should be worried, look anyone. I mean, I have a
Speaker 3: daughter going back to school in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Every single parent who sends their child off to college,
Speaker 3: it's it's such a scary time in life because you've
Speaker 3: been protecting them, you've been around them, you've been guiding them.
Speaker 3: You know where they are when they're coming, when they're going,
Speaker 3: suddenly they launch off to school. And so yes, this
Speaker 3: is every single parent's worst nightmare as they're sending their
Speaker 3: kids off to college. What if they're not safe? What
Speaker 3: if they're not protected? So for those police officers to say, hey,
Speaker 3: your kids are fine, there's no one on the loose. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it took six weeks and he was actually arrested at
Speaker 3: his parents' home in Pennsylvania, driven.
Speaker 1: Across the country. He had driven cross the country home.
Speaker 1: I think didn't he drive with.
Speaker 2: His dad on that?
Speaker 3: I believe, so, yes, yes, there are so many questions
Speaker 3: and it actually look everyone wants to know. But actually
Speaker 3: President Trump weighed in on this case earlier in the
Speaker 3: week as well, And welcome back everyone to this edition
Speaker 3: of Amy and TJ. We are focused on this sentencing
Speaker 3: hearing that is happening today. All eyes are on a
Speaker 3: courtroom in in Idaho. Brian Coberger is going to be
Speaker 3: formally sentenced. He is going to be pleading guilty to
Speaker 3: four murder charges. He is The sentencing has already pretty
Speaker 3: much been determined. He's going to get four consecutive life sentences.
Speaker 3: He is going to prison for the rest of his life.
Speaker 3: But the big the big moment today could be if
Speaker 3: we hear from Brian specifically. Everyone wants to know why
Speaker 3: he committed these heinous crimes, stabbing these four innocent college
Speaker 3: students to death while they were sleeping in their off
Speaker 3: campus home. He's been linked to the attack, he's admitted
Speaker 3: to the murders, and yet no one knows why they occurred.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is I know, you're just talking about a
Speaker 1: moment ago. It was six of them, right, six of
Speaker 1: them living in the house, and you talk about folks
Speaker 1: in their kids off to college and just the idea,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what Anna Lease experience her first year is school.
Speaker 1: How many were in that house?
Speaker 3: Seven?
Speaker 4: She had seven kids in a house?
Speaker 1: Coming up this year is going to be how many
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: She's doing six, five or six. But yes, it's a
Speaker 3: big house filled with kids. You feel like they're safe,
Speaker 3: safety in numbers, they're else And there were boys and
Speaker 3: girls in the house, so that actually makes me feel
Speaker 3: safer to know she's got guys there. But that didn't
Speaker 3: protect these kids on that night from Brian Coberg.
Speaker 1: Since sleep in the middle of the night, going to
Speaker 1: a house people you don't know and kill them why
Speaker 1: with just why why why? Why? Why? The family is
Speaker 1: desperate for this answer. And you were talking before we
Speaker 1: uh hopped onto that break that. Yeah, even the President
Speaker 1: has chimed in on this and Robes the president is
Speaker 1: having the same thought it seems the rest of us
Speaker 1: are having.
Speaker 4: He certainly is.
Speaker 3: He has taken to truth social and he has put
Speaker 3: out several statements. But one of them he said, I
Speaker 3: hope the judge makes Coburger at a minimum explain why
Speaker 3: he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there
Speaker 3: is no nothing. People were shocked that he was able
Speaker 3: to plea bargain, but the judge should make him explain
Speaker 3: what happened. I mean that I think would have maybe
Speaker 3: made some of these family members feel a little bit
Speaker 3: better if the deal had been struck between prosecutors and
Speaker 3: the defense. Okay, fine, you can plead guilty. We'll take
Speaker 3: the death penalty off the table, but we want you
Speaker 3: in open court to explain why you did what you did.
Speaker 3: I'm wondering why they didn't go that route, you.
Speaker 1: Know what, because maybe they didn't discuss it with the
Speaker 1: family ahead of time, Right, did they get a say
Speaker 1: in this? Oftentimes this is the case. Prosecutors are good
Speaker 1: about this, and I'm not sure what they did in
Speaker 1: this particular instance, but that had to be something. You know,
Speaker 1: families would have insisted. This is a part of the
Speaker 1: plea deal. You gotta speak, Yeah, you got to tell
Speaker 1: us what's happening. Short of that, I don't believe the
Speaker 1: George the judge can order him to do anything.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think the judge can either, but I
Speaker 3: believe as a part of a deal, you absolutely could
Speaker 3: have that be a condition and he could have taken
Speaker 3: it lately or left it, and so I just I
Speaker 3: really wonder why they didn't go that route, because that's
Speaker 3: tough because a lot of legal experts will tell you
Speaker 3: because his sentencing has already been determined, he's already going
Speaker 3: to prison for the rest of his life, he really
Speaker 3: doesn't have an incentive to speak. There's no reason why
Speaker 3: he has to speak, and so if they're not into
Speaker 3: rehabilitating him or even understanding him at this point, he
Speaker 3: really doesn't have to say one thing. And so people
Speaker 3: are saying there's a fifty to fifty chance that he speaks. Well, okay,
Speaker 3: anybody could say that, but I don't know that anything
Speaker 3: he could say. Imagine I'm putting myself in the shoes
Speaker 3: of those parents. I can't imagine there's anything he could
Speaker 3: say that would make me feel any better or have
Speaker 3: any more closure.
Speaker 4: About what happened to my child. I do know that.
Speaker 3: One of the girl's parents said, if he said he
Speaker 3: was sorry, if he apologized, it would matter, It would
Speaker 3: make a difference. It would feel like they got something
Speaker 3: from him. But most folks are doubtful that is going
Speaker 3: to happen.
Speaker 4: But anything could happen.
Speaker 3: And again, this we don't know at what point he
Speaker 3: gets the opportunity to speak, or the judge will say,
Speaker 3: do you have anything to say?
Speaker 1: It's right, it's the last thing, right before the judge
Speaker 1: issues the sentence.
Speaker 3: And so if you're looking at and we're expecting quite
Speaker 3: a few people to get up and give these victim
Speaker 3: impact statements. And there has been some belief that this
Speaker 3: may go into day two until tomorrow, so we may
Speaker 3: not even he may not even get the chance to
Speaker 3: speak or not to speak until tomorrow.
Speaker 4: But this is certainly going to be interesting.
Speaker 3: And I mean, my heart's actually beating fast imagining that
Speaker 3: anticipation or waiting to see or waiting to hear or
Speaker 3: wanting to know if he's going to tell me what
Speaker 3: happened to my child?
Speaker 1: What was the one I'm sorry you said? They said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. It would be worth something, right. I can't
Speaker 1: remember the trial, we saw that too long ago. Where
Speaker 1: the who Oh my goodness, I am getting Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I just got to overcome with emotion thinking about it,
Speaker 1: because you remember how messed up I was over it. It
Speaker 1: was the the kid who was who had killed folk?
Speaker 3: Was it?
Speaker 1: Where was it? And one of the mothers of the
Speaker 1: victim asked if she could go hug him? Yes, And
Speaker 1: I saw that video. Oh my god, I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: it now. I worked up about it because that was
Speaker 1: such a powerful and emotional moment to see. So you
Speaker 1: never know what works for one family might not work
Speaker 1: for another. What works for one dad might not work
Speaker 1: for the mom. What works for this in the same
Speaker 1: family either. You don't know how this day and what
Speaker 1: words could mean anything. These people have to live the
Speaker 1: rest of their lives without two twenty year olds and
Speaker 1: two twenty one year olds. That's how young these kids
Speaker 1: were sleeping in the midnight and killed. So if I
Speaker 1: am I don't know enough about his personality. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's been anything other than the murder that people
Speaker 1: come out and say he's so he's been malicious, he's
Speaker 1: been vindictive, he's been you know, some killers taunt right
Speaker 1: the victims family. He hasn't done that. But will he
Speaker 1: go quietly?
Speaker 2: What could he say?
Speaker 1: Robes, I did it because blink, and you're just gonna
Speaker 1: go whatever answer you give, it's probably gonna make you
Speaker 1: feel worse like over that. For that, there's no justification,
Speaker 1: there's nothing.
Speaker 3: There's no justification what happened to those for young, bright
Speaker 3: and budding students who were about to just go take
Speaker 3: on the world. It's just it's so gutting and so
Speaker 3: incredibly sad, and so perhaps, yeah, anything short of an apology,
Speaker 3: I don't know any weight it would carry or any explanation.
Speaker 4: Yet there is no explanation.
Speaker 1: You don't. Prosecutors have asked you talk about him speaking
Speaker 1: to the family and saying something, but a fouled emotion
Speaker 1: before today's hearing, asking for a gag order on Coburger
Speaker 1: be continued, meaning he has been ordered not to try
Speaker 1: to contact the victims' families. They want that extended for
Speaker 1: about another one hundred years for whatever reason they stuck
Speaker 1: that number in their ninety nine years. But they don't
Speaker 1: want him any point ever to be allowed to torture
Speaker 1: this family.
Speaker 3: Yes, and one of the family members spoke out and
Speaker 3: said that they're the reason why they wanted the death
Speaker 3: penalty and they wanted the trial is because they don't
Speaker 3: want him to have influence over anyone. They don't want
Speaker 3: him to have influence over other inmates. They said, this
Speaker 3: is a bright person who is intelligent PhD student. They
Speaker 3: don't want him to have a healthy and a rewarding
Speaker 3: life inside of prison. I believe he said he considers
Speaker 3: what Coburger is about to enter into is adult daycare.
Speaker 3: He said that's not good enough for me. My daughter
Speaker 3: lost her life. He shouldn't get to go to adult
Speaker 3: daycare and be interacting with inmates, writing reading. You know,
Speaker 3: he was even concerned he might write a book or
Speaker 3: do something. So a gag order I think would certainly
Speaker 3: help the parents and the family members of these students
Speaker 3: feel a little bit better. You can understand that you
Speaker 3: just wouldn't want this person who did what he did
Speaker 3: to have any influence over anybody ever again, whatever that
Speaker 3: may be wherever that may be.
Speaker 1: We shall see folks. If he does speak today, we
Speaker 1: will have our eye on the court out there, and
Speaker 1: it is being live stream if you want to check
Speaker 1: it out yourself, there's several outlets you can find it
Speaker 1: no problem where it's being live streams. But we'll keep
Speaker 1: an eye on today and we'll check back in with
Speaker 1: you when it warrants, which we assume it is going
Speaker 1: to warrant fairly soon. But for now, folks, we appreciate
Speaker 1: you as always hanging with us for my partner, Hamy
Speaker 1: Robot on TJ. Holmes will talk to y'all soon