The 22-year-old Utah man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk returned to court Friday as his attorneys seek to disqualify prosecutors in the case over an alleged conflict of interest.
Tyler Robinson is charged with aggravated murder in Kirk’s Sept.10 shooting on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, just a few miles north of the Provo courthouse. Prosecutors with the Utah County Attorney’s Office plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. Robinson has pleaded not guilty.
An 18-year-old child of a deputy county attorney attended the campus event where Kirk was shot. The child, whose name was redacted from court filings, later texted with their father in the Utah County Attorney’s Office to describe the chaotic events around the shooting, the filings from prosecutors and defense lawyers state.
Defense attorneys say that personal relationship is a conflict of interest that “raises serious concerns about past and future prosecutorial decision-making in this case,” according to court documents. They also argue that the “rush” to seek the death penalty against Robinson is evidence of “strong emotional reactions” by the prosecution and merits the disqualification of the entire team.
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Defense attorney Richard Novak urged Judge Tony Graf on Friday to bring in the state attorney general’s office in place of Utah County prosecutors to address the conflict of interest. Novak said it was problematic for county prosecutors to litigate on behalf of the state while defending their aptness to remain on the case.
Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray replied that Novak’s last-minute request was aimed at delaying the case against Robinson.
“This is ambush and another stalling tactic to delay these proceedings,” Gray said.
The director of a state council that trains prosecutors said he was not aware of any other major case where attorneys had been disqualified for bias.
“I would bet against the defense winning this motion,” Utah Prosecution Council Director Robert Church said. “They’ve got to show a substantial amount of prejudice and bias.”
Several thousand people attended the outdoor rally where Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA who helped mobilize young people to vote for President Trump, was shot as he took questions from the audience. The child of the deputy county attorney did not see the shooting, according to an affidavit submitted by prosecutors.
“While the second person in line was speaking with Charlie, I was looking around the crowd when I heard a loud sound, like a pop. Someone yelled ‘he’s been shot,'” the child stated in the affidavit.
The child later texted a family group chat to say “CHARLIE GOT SHOT.” In the aftermath of the shooting, the child did not miss classes or other activities and reported no lasting trauma “aside from being scared at the time,” the affidavit said.
Prosecutors have asked Graf to deny the disqualification request.
“Under these circumstances, there is virtually no risk, let alone a significant risk, that it would arouse such emotions in any father-prosecutor as to render him unable to fairly prosecute the case,” Gray said in a filing.
Gray also said the child was “neither a material witness nor a victim in the case” and that “nearly everything” the person knows about the actual homicide is mere hearsay.
The Associated Press left email and telephone messages for Robinson’s defense attorney, Kathryn Nester.
Prosecutors have said text messages and DNA evidence connect Robinson to the killing. Robinson reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he had “had enough of his hatred.”
At recent hearings, Robinson’s legal team has pushed to limit media access in the high-profile case. Graf has prohibited media from publishing photos, videos and live broadcasts that show Robinson’s restraints to help protect his presumption of innocence before a trial.
The judge has not ruled on a suggestion by the defense to ban cameras in the courtroom.
Prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Robinson at a preliminary hearing scheduled to begin May 18.
Last month, Kirk’s widow Erika, who now leads Turning Point USA, joined CBS News for a town hall where she explained the “game-time decision” of publicly forgiving the man charged with her husband’s murder.
“I forgive him because it’s what Christ did and is what Charlie would do,” she said in her eulogy at her husband’s memorial service.
When asked if she had any words for his accused killer, she said: “Nothing. I have nothing to say to you. Nothing.”
She added that there’s a difference between forgiving someone and still wanting justice. “We serve a just God, and I rest easy in knowing that. He’s sovereign, but he’s just. And so let the Lord handle that.”
