By Steve Gorman
PROVO, Utah (Reuters) -The Utah trade school student charged with murdering right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was due back in court on Monday, this time in person, for a largely procedural hearing expected to formalize the appointment of his legal defense team.
Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper’s perch that took Kirk’s life on September 10 while Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was addressing a crowd on a university campus in Orem, Utah.
Robinson, arrested after a 33-hour manhunt, has been jailed without bond on charges of aggravated murder and several other criminal offenses, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
He has not entered a plea and will not do so on Monday, his second proceeding before Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf in Provo. Unlike the first, Robinson is expected to be physically present. He made his initial court appearance in a live video feed from jail on September 16.
Monday’s hearing will focus on finalizing the appointment of Robinson’s legal counsel, Kathryn Nester, a private criminal defense attorney based in Salt Lake City. The Utah County Commission has already approved Nester’s contract, as required by state law.
Nester may be required to affirm for the record that her team is qualified to handle capital murder cases, likely a perfunctory matter, according to Deputy County Attorney Christopher Ballard.
“I suspect that Kathryn Nester would not have thrown her hat in the ring unless she met the qualifications,” he said.
The judge also may address procedures necessary to ensure that “information is flowing from the prosecution to the defense” as it should through the routine sharing of evidence known as discovery, Ballard said.
The next major step in the case will be a preliminary hearing, where prosecutors must show the judge there is sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that the defendant committed the crimes with which he is charged.
Assuming the prosecution succeeds, the judge would then set an arraignment for Robinson to enter a plea.
Kirk’s assassination, captured in graphic video clips that went viral on the internet, unleashed a wave of partisan finger-pointing and deepened fears about rising political violence.
Fallout has included a national furor over comments about the killing by late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was suspended for nearly a week under pressure from the head of the Federal Communications Commission and a boycott of the program by two major TV station groups.
On Thursday, Trump signed a directive seeking to crack down on what he characterized as organized efforts by left-wing groups to commit or incite political violence, though no evidence has emerged connecting Robinson with any outside group.
In their charging documents, prosecutors included electronic writings in which Robinson was alleged to have privately confessed to the murder in an exchange of texts with his live-in romantic partner. In it, Robinson allegedly said of Kirk, “I had enough of his hatred.”
(Reporting by Jim Urquhart in Provo, Utah; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Comments