The Bryan Kohberger plea deal in Idaho is not the first controversial bargain struck by the same District Attorney’s Office … because the top prosecutor made a similar deal nearly 29 years ago to the day … and it also involved murders and the death penalty.
TMZ did some digging and we found out that back in July 1996, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson — who still holds the same position today — struck a deal to spare the life of a man who admitted to killing two people.
The parallels here are eerie … because in that case, two Chinese nationals were stabbed to death in their Moscow, ID apartment … and a former University of Idaho student copped to the murders.
The killer, Wenkai Li, was charged with first-degree murder, and capital punishment was on the table if he was found guilty … but he struck a deal with Thompson where the death penalty was taken off the table, and he pled guilty to second-degree murder.
TMZ.com
The families of the slain victims in that case were furious, and they ripped Thompson in a letter to the judge, saying they were “extremely upset and dissatisfied with the plea bargain” … which they said betrayed the truth.
In Kohberger’s case … he was charged with first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing deaths of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves. The students were killed inside their off-campus home in Moscow.
Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, but they made a deal with Kohberger where he will plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors removing capital punishment from the equation … and the families of two of the victims are up in arms.
Thompson is the common denominator here and it kinda makes ya wonder … is this the D.A.’s modus operandi … taking the death penalty off the table and plea-bargaining to avoid a trial?!?
He said as much back in 1996, saying that the plea deal secured a conviction without the risk or expense of a trial.
