Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology graduate student serving four consecutive life sentences for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and take his case to trial, claiming he is innocent, The New York Times reported.

In an interview with the Times, Kohberger said he has filed a post-conviction petition arguing his guilty plea should be set aside because it was based on "false promises and blatant disinformation."

"My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn," Kohberger said in a statement provided to the newspaper.

During a phone interview from prison, he also said he has an "absolute claim of innocence."

According to the Times, Kohberger declined to discuss specific evidence supporting his innocence or explain what he believed was improper about the plea negotiations, saying those issues should be examined in a trial.

Kohberger pleaded guilty last year to the fatal stabbings of University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves, who were killed in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022.

The case drew nationwide attention as investigators searched for weeks before identifying Kohberger as the suspect.

The Times noted that prosecutors' evidence included Kohberger's DNA on a Ka-Bar knife sheath recovered at the crime scene, records showing he had purchased a Ka-Bar knife and sheath months before the killings, surveillance footage of a white Hyundai Elantra matching his vehicle near the home, and cellphone data indicating his phone was turned off during the time of the murders.

Kohberger declined to address that evidence during the interview, telling the Times that "the intention is for all of those questions to be investigated and answered appropriately in a trial setting."

Court records reviewed by the Times show Kohberger's petition was filed Monday. He said he prepared the filing himself and plans to seek court-appointed counsel as he pursues his effort to overturn his conviction.

The Latah County Prosecutor's Office did not immediately comment, according to the Times. Steve Goncalves, the father of victim Kaylee Goncalves, also declined to comment, saying he first wanted to discuss the filing with his family.