Sitting in a courtroom full of grief and anger, Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler dabbed at tearful eyes when delivering a sentence that was expected by no one, yet no less devastating in its weight of four lives lost.
Bryan Kohberger, 30, was sentenced on Wednesday, July 23, to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole to be served for the brutal 2022 murders of four students of the University of Idaho in their off-campus house.
There were tears in the courtroom as Judge Hippler became emotional in his statements.
The judge started his remark, on the serene morning of Nov. 13, 2022, a faceless coward intruded in the peace of six beautiful young people and murdered them senselessly, four of them.
Then he looked straight at Kohberger. But with the incompetence of the killer and the great police work, the individual who slipped through the sliding glass door at 1122 King Road is here before the world and this court unmasked.
A Freezing Revealing
And only three weeks later, on July 2, Kohberger appeared before the same court in Boise and pleaded guilty to the heinous crime that chilled the country.
He pleaded guilty to burglarizing the residence of students and killing Madison Mogen (21), Kaylee Goncalves (21), Xana Kernodle (20) and Ethan Chapin (20).
The murder did not only horrify Idaho, but the nation as well. They were all youthful and full of promise when they were savagely snatched during the wee hours of the night, their lives taken in a senseless act of bloodshed that left two roommates, Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen traumatized and the nation in mourning.
Families talk of anger and sorrow
The courtroom had more than two hours of heartbreaking and powerful victim impact statements before the judge passed his sentence.
The families of the four students towered in sorrow, some shaking, some angry, yet all pleading a demand of justice.
One of the most memorable statements was made by Alivea Goncalves, the older sister of Kaylee, as she directly urged Kohberger and spoke in a sharp voice that was not afraid of anything.
When I am speaking to you sit up straight. Kaylee and her best friend Maddie were not yours to take.
Talking about the light and love that the two girls had brought into her life, Alivea explained that they were everything that she could never be loved, accepted, bright, accomplished, courageous, and strong.
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Then, in the death blow, she told Kohberger:
The thing is, the worst thing about you is how you turned out to be such an excruciatingly mediocre person… Kaylee would have f$cking kicked your ass had you not come at them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a paedophile.
The gasps were heard in the courtroom but Alivea held her ground.
A Judge Touched to Sorrow
Hippler, the calm judge, struggled to keep his head. However, the moment he touched on the anguish being experienced by the families he was seen to choke up.
I was attentively listening to all these stories and sorrows that have been told today, he added. And with profound admiration of the bravery and strength of those who were left behind in the families of those marvellous children.
Besides the four life sentences, Kohberger was sentenced to 10 years of burglary and fined and penalised the amount of two hundred and seventy thousand dollars. To the families, nothing of them could be regained no matter how much punishment was given.
The Role in Defense of the Surviving Roommates
Also in a moment of grace, the judge shifted to justify Bethany Funke and Dylan Mortensen, the two surviving roommates who had been slated online over the failure to call the police as soon as they could.
Hippler reacted against the uncaring people and the mad theories, which had surrounded them. He commended their bravery to come out even after the horror.
The judge stated simply, ” They were children.” and they did hell.
Mortensen had reported to police that she had seen a man (who she believed was a firefighter) pass her door that night. She was so confused and so frightened that she made no reply at once. The judge spelt out that she did not deserve the blame.
Life Behind Bars
Kohberger is now subject to a two-week assessment by the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC), during which his ultimate placement will be decided.
READ ALSO: Dylan Mortensen Speaks for the First Time: “I Saw Him Walk By My Door”
He is most probably going to be shipped off to the only maximum security prison in Idaho; however, the authorities might decide to transfer him to another state because of security reasons since the case is well known.
He will never again walk free no matter where he goes.
A Town that is Never the Same
Maddie, Kaylee, Xana, and Ethan were all murdered, ripping the heart out of the Moscow, Idaho community. They are the faces that were recognized all over the country the months after the crime, the faces of young people whose lives never had a chance to bloom, and the faces of friends.
At this point, Kohberger is convicted, and justice has been served, and families enter a long process of healing. But as Judge Hippler said:
You will bring back the memories of these now always-young people—these forever children.
The pain will come and stay, but so will their memory; it will always live in the hearts of the people who loved them.
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