A judge has ruled that larger portions of accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson’s court filings will be made public, with some motions filed by his defense team remaining private — for now.
On Friday, 4th District Judge Tony Graf announced that the majority of the four motions filed by Robinson’s defense team in his capital murder case to keep court documents out of the public eye do not qualify as “private,” according to a report by KSL.
The four motions filed by Robinson’s defense team were a request to seal a January 9 filing “with exhibits,” to exclude cameras from the courtroom, to keep private a reply to the motion to exclude cameras, and a request to make portions of the suspect’s upcoming April 17 hearing closed to the public.
Robinson’s lawyers reportedly argued that the January 9 filing featuring exhibits should be remain private due to containing evidence that has not yet been officially admitted in court, claiming it could taint a potential jury pool.
Judge Graf ruled that Robinson’s defense team had not sufficiently explained why the evidence in the January 9 filing would affect a jury, and ruled to allow the motion to become public.
After listening to two hours of testimony, the judge reportedly described the evidence in the January 9 documents are mainly technical, scientific testing of collected evidence, and consequently denied the motion to keep it private.
When deciding on whether or not to exclude cameras from the courtroom, Judge Graf said that while he is sensitive to the pretrial publicity and conspiracy theories surrounding the case, “the public already has access to the majority of information contained in the motion.”
Therefore, the judge said he was only partially denying Robinson’s request to keep that motion sealed, and give the murder suspect’s defense team until March 30 to submit a revised redacted motion, allowing information deemed “private” to remain redacted.
While Robinson’s attorneys argue that allowing cameras in the courtroom will threaten the 22-year-old suspect’s right to due process and a fair trial, prosecutors say “keeping court proceedings as public as possible helps to quell and contradict the tide of misinformation.”
The defense’s reply — which included their attempt to keep media out of the courtroom — and the motion to keep that sealed from the public, was also denied by Judge Graf, who determined the material did not contain any private information.
Meanwhile, the merits of whether cameras should be allowed in the courtroom during the trial will reportedly be debated during Robinson’s April 17 hearing.
Judge Graf noted that on April 17, he will make rulings as needed as to whether potions of the hearing should be private or open to the public.
Robinson is charged with capital murder and faces a possible death sentence if he is convicted of assassinating Turning Point USA founder and conservative icon Charlie Kirk on September 10 during a campus event at Utah Valley University.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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