Nancy Grace, the fiery host of Crime Stories, erupted in outrage Wednesday over the plea deal struck by Idaho prosecutors in the Bryan Kohberger case, accusing them of cowardice for avoiding a trial and leaving the grieving families of four murdered college students “out of the equation.” Kohberger, accused of the brutal November 2022 killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty—a move Grace called a betrayal of justice.
“I’m a crime victim. A lot of what happened at my fiancé’s murder trial is really blurry to me… but I do remember the felony prosecutor speaking to me and Keith’s family before he went forward with a trial or any potential sentencing and spoke to us and had agreement with us,” Grace told America’s Newsroom co-host Bill Hemmer. “Long story short, I feel that the family was left out of the equation. I’ve got the letter that they sent the family. A letter? Really? A letter instead of a meeting?”
Grace, a former prosecutor herself, didn’t hold back, slamming the decision as a failure of nerve. “Listen, there is DNA… on the murder weapon she found under the dead body. What more do you really need?” she demanded. “I find it’s weak. Sounds to me like somebody didn’t have the spine to take the case to trial.”
The case had been set for trial on August 11, but prosecutors folded despite the judge rejecting defense motions to shift blame elsewhere or delay proceedings further. Hemmer pressed Grace on why she believed the state lacked the courage to see the case through.
“Yes, it will be a long trial. It’s gonna be a battle start to finish and you don’t know the outcome. You are rolling the dice, but that’s what trial work is. Man up, get in there, do it,” Grace shot back. “That’s what they are paid to do. They have an incredible treasure trove of evidence. And all this business about the family gets to look him in the eye at sentencing. He probably won’t even look at them. And at sentencing they speak, he doesn’t. We will never know what really happened. We would learn that at trial, but there’s not going to be a trial.”
Grace warned that Kohberger, like infamous serial killers Ted Bundy and BTK, would now be shrouded in a dangerous mystique. “He will take this deal, go to jail and then one day we will see him on a Zoom at some big symposium where he tells his side. Total B.S.,” she fumed.
The case highlights a broader trend of weak-kneed prosecutors—often backed by liberal soft-on-crime policies—failing to deliver justice for victims. While the left-wing media obsesses over criminals’ rights, President Donald Trump has consistently championed law and order, demanding tougher sentences and standing with victims. Unlike the Biden administration’s lenient approach, Trump’s policies prioritize justice over coddling murderers.