A Utah County prosecutor’s workplace can be allowed to proceed constructing its dying penalty case against Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, regardless of the protection’s claims that it mishandled a possible battle of curiosity.
Robinson’s protection attorneys had requested for the whole Utah County Attorney’s Office to be recused from the case, arguing that the presence of a lead prosecutor’s baby at the occasion the place Kirk was assassinated had tainted the workplace’s choices in the case. But a decide on Tuesday dominated the baby’s attendance “did not materially influence” prosecutors’ actions.
During a cut up two-day listening to earlier this yr, deputy lawyer Chad Grunander testified his baby attended the Turning Point USA occasion the place Kirk was shot final yr. The 18-year-old, who’s a scholar at Utah Valley University the place the occasion was held, didn’t see the deadly second or witness anyone in the crowd who might have been a suspect, prosecutors argued.
In the hours and days following the taking pictures, Grunander knowledgeable lots of his colleagues that his baby was current, he stated. Even so, Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray appointed Grunander as certainly one of the attorneys tasked with prosecuting Robinson.
Gray advised the court docket he believes the baby’s presence was “completely irrelevant” to choices made in the case, together with the alternative to pursue the dying penalty against Robinson.
Utah District Court Judge Tony Graf appeared to agree in his ruling Tuesday.
“The court is unpersuaded that Mr. Grunander’s relationship with (his child) creates an appearance of bias in this case,” Graf advised the court docket.
The Utah County Attorney’s Office disclosed the doable battle to Robinson’s workforce on October 20, slightly over a month after Kirk was killed, Gray testified.
But Robinson’s protection lawyer, Richard Novak, insisted Gray has taken an “inappropriately casual approach” to the situation. He argued Grunander ought to have been sequestered from the case, and protection attorneys ought to have been instantly notified of the potential battle.
“The decision as to what charges to file, the decision as to whether or not to seek the death penalty, should never, ever have been made in consultation with Mr. Grunander,” Novak stated in closing arguments.
Novak fought for the full recusal of the lawyer’s workplace as an alternative of the dismissal of Grunander or a handful of attorneys. The situation in entrance of the court docket, he argued, was not whether or not the baby’s presence was a battle of curiosity. Instead, he requested the decide to contemplate the workplace’s dealing with of the situation.
Asked throughout the early February listening to whether or not his baby’s presence that day impacted his resolution making in the case, Grunander stated, “No, not at all.”
He stated it was clear his baby was not in the “zone of danger,” referring to a authorized doctrine that partially determines whether or not individuals are positioned in speedy threat of bodily hurt.
The deputy prosecutor stated his workplace disclosed his baby’s presence out of “an abundance of caution,” not as a result of they believed it was a problem.
“Don’t mistake our disclosure, my disclosure, our abundance of caution, our professionalism, integrity, to be a concession that we believe there’s merit to this alleged conflict,” he advised the court docket.
One of Robinson’s attorneys, Kathy Nester, was notably absent from the digital listening to Tuesday. Nester additionally represents Kouri Richins, whose murder trial began this week in Park City. Richins is accused of poisoning her husband with fentanyl in 2022, then writing a children’s book to assist her sons grieve.
Robinson has not but entered pleas for the slew of prices he’s dealing with, together with aggravated homicide, felony use of a firearm, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, together with a number of sufferer focusing on enhancements and an aggravating issue of getting dedicated a violent offense in the presence of a kid.
He gained’t be arraigned till after his preliminary listening to, which has been scheduled to start May 18 and is anticipated to final three days.