Bryan Kohberger's lawyers are arguing he shouldn't be on the hook for $27,000 being sought by two victims' families—because those families received adequate money from GoFundMe donors. As part of his plea deal, Kohberger must pay $20,000 each to the families of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, whom he admitted murdering in November 2022, and those payments aren't at issue.
But Kohberger's defense team says extra requests made by the state—about $20,000 for the Goncalves family and nearly $7,000 for Mogen's mother, Karen Laramie, to cover their travel to the Boise court proceedings and lodging there—are unnecessary because the families have received substantial support from the public.
Fox News reports the court filing cites three GoFundMe campaigns "that specifically asked for and covered the expenses sought": one raised $73,493 for both the Goncalves and Mogen families, another brought in $48,815 specifically for Laramie to attend court proceedings, and a third collected $85,583 so that the Goncalves family could do the same. "The additional funds sought do not qualify as an economic loss" because of those campaigns, Kohberger's attorneys wrote.
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CourtTV reports the defense did acknowledge that the families had said they would return the donations after the trial didn't take place due to Kohberger's plea deal, though they said it's unclear if that refund took place. People in July reported that Kaylee Goncalves' father Steve said he wanted to return the money because he did not want to "bait and switch these beautiful people like [Latah County Prosecutor] Bill Thompson did to our family"; the Goncalves was vocal in its opposition against the plea deal.
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