Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassin suspect, Tyler Robinson, is due back in court on Friday as his attorneys seek to disqualify prosecutors in the case, claiming a conflict of interest.
Robinson’s attorneys allege there is a personal relationship that “raises serious concerns about past and future prosecutorial decision-making in this case,” citing an 18-year-old child of a deputy county attorney who attended the campus event where Kirk was killed, according to court documents obtained by ABC7 News.
After Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University on September 10, the child texted their father in the Utah County Attorney’s Office to describe the chaos that transpired amid the shooting, filings from prosecutors and defense lawyers state.
But an affidavit submitted by prosecutors notes that the child of the deputy county attorney did not see the fatal shooting at the outdoor campus event, where around 3,000 people were in attendance.
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“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 texted their father, according to the affidavit.
The child later texted a family group chat, writing, “CHARLIE GOT SHOT,” the affidavit adds, before noting that the child did not miss classes or other activities in the aftermath of the fatal shooting, and reported no trauma other than “being scared at the time.”
Prosecutors are reportedly planning to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. The 22-year-old suspect, who is charged with aggravated murder in the conservative icon’s shooting, has not yet entered a plea.
Robinson’s defense attorneys also allege that prosecutors have rushed to seek the death penalty, which they say is evidence of “strong emotional reactions” that merits the disqualification of the entire prosecution team.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, are asking that District Judge Tony Graf deny the defense team’s request for disqualification.
“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,” Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray reportedly said.
Gray also said the child was “neither a material witness nor a victim in the case,” adding that “nearly everything” the person knows about the actual murder is hearsay.
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Previously, prosecutors said DNA evidence and text messages connect Robinson to the killing. The assassin suspect also reportedly texted his transgender roommate and lover, Lance Twiggs, that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”
The defense team has also tried to limit media access in Robinson’s case. While Judge Graf has banned media from publishing photos and videos showing the assassin suspect in restraints, he has not yet ruled on a suggestion by his attorneys to prohibit cameras in the courtroom.
In the meantime, the free speech martyr’s widow, Erika Kirk, has called on Judge Graf to allow news cameras inside the courtroom for Robinson’s upcoming trial.
“There were cameras all over my husband when he was murdered,” Kirk told Fox News’ Jesse Watters in November. “There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning.”
Prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Robinson at a preliminary hearing that is set to begin on May 18.
Meanwhile, Robinson’s trans lover, who has not been charged with any crime, is no longer under FBI protection, a law enforcement source told Fox News. The FBI has not publicly explained why Twiggs’ protection ended.
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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