Bryan Kohberger sat in a courtroom in Boise, Idaho, for more than three hours on Wednesday, rarely changing his expression as he listened to emotional speeches from more than a dozen people condemning him for the murders of four University of Idaho students more than two years ago.

Among the speakers were relatives of the victims, two roommates who survived the November 2022 attack, a prosecutor who built the case against him and the judge who sentenced him at the end of the hearing.

Mr. Kohberger said almost nothing throughout the process. His sentence: four consecutive life terms with no opportunity for parole, a punishment that the lead prosecutor called “a life and death sentence” because it ensured he would die in prison.

Now 30, Mr. Kohlberger was a Ph.D. student at Washington State University at the time of the killings, which spread fear through the neighboring college town where they occurred, Moscow, Idaho.

Investigators had been under a strict gag order for much of the time since he was taken into custody in December 2022, but it was lifted last week and they held a news conference for the first time on Wednesday, following the sentencing hearing, during which they disclosed some new details.

Here’s what to know.

When asked toward the end of the hearing by Judge Steven Hippler if he would like to make a statement, Mr. Kohberger leaned forward in his chair and said just three words: “I respectfully decline.”

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