Your Preview Pass will lapse in 00:00
Tyler Robinson, who stands accused of attempting to assassinate Charlie Kirk, awaits to hear his fate on Friday when a judge in Utah decides whether to honor his defense team’s plea to remove the death penalty from considerations, citing alleged violations of a gag order by the prosecution.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. will deliver a verdict on whether the prosecution breached his gag order or state court protocols, and if confirmed, what the repercussions might entail.
Robinson’s attorneys argue that the sole adequate response is to omit the death penalty as an option, a move that Utah County prosecutors argue would be excessive if the court agrees with the defense.
“This Court must demonstrate that its directives, and the ethical guidelines that attorneys must adhere to, apply equally to the prosecution, even in this high-profile case. The only suitable penalty is to withdraw the State’s death penalty notice,” states the document, endorsed by defense lawyers Kathryn Nester, Richard Novak, Michael Burt, and Staci Visser.
Tyler Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at a public speaking event at Utah Valley University in September. (Bethany Baker/Pool via REUTERS, Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Prosecutors have countered that they did not violate the gag order or any other court rules when they “set the record straight” after what they call a misleading statement from a defense filing led to viral news coverage suggesting that the ATF could not match the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk to the suspected murder weapon, Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle.
The ATF could neither identify nor exclude Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle as the source of the bullet fragment recovered from Kirk, describing the tool mark analysis as inconclusive, according to court records. But the caliber was consistent, and a spent casing was also a match.
Charlie Kirk throws a “Make America Great Again” hat to the crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Neither the gag order on Robinson’s case nor state court rules prohibited prosecutors from correcting what they saw as the defense’s misleading court filing, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of assassinating Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Investigators search a taped-off area in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 11, 2025, related to the hunt for evidence in the assassination of Charlie Kirk during a rally at UVU. (Derek Shook for News Media)
The back-and-forth has evolved into a war of words, with prosecutors accusing the defense of releasing misleading information through court filings, and the defense accusing prosecutors of “hubris” when responding in a string of media interviews they claim violate a gag order.
Robinson will attend remotely from jail. He has not yet entered a plea and is not expected to until after his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to take place over a week in early July.