Big Question for Kohberger: Will He Explain Himself?

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty earlier this month in the murders of Idaho college students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin after two years of claiming his innocence. The move avoided the death penalty in the Nov. 13, 2022, stabbings, but Kohberger faces his sentencing—and the victims' families for the first time—beginning Wednesday in an Idaho courtroom. The sentencing could last into Thursday. What to expect, via ABC News:

• Kohberger: CNN notes that the terms of Kohberger's deal don't require him to disclose his motive, but at sentencing, "allocution will offer Kohberger a confronting choice: stay silent or face the families of his four victims and attempt to explain the horror he inflicted." ABC notes that there's no real incentive for him to do so: normally, criminals use allocution to humanize themselves to get a lesser sentence, but Kohberger's deal already guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison. "I think there's a less than 50% chance he does speak, and a zero percent chance that he says anything that makes anyone walk away from this sentencing feeling any better," says an ABC legal analyst.

• Who won't be there: The family of Chapin.
• Who will be there: The rest of the victims' families, particularly that of Goncalves, who were angered over the plea deal. They're expected to read victim impact statements.
• Also possibly on deck: Two surviving roommates of the three murdered women, who were in the house the night of the murders and witnessed Kohberger in the house.
• Trump weighs in: The president thinks Kohberger should start talking, reports Fox News. "While Life Imprisonment is tough, it's certainly better than receiving the Death Penalty but, before Sentencing, I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders," Trump wrote on social media. "There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING."
• Afterward: The court is expected to begin the process of unsealing sensitive documents related to the case after the sentencing, reports KOMO.