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.

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.

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.

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.

The perplexing case surrounding the death of a South Carolina personal trainer took a more enigmatic turn after an autopsy failed to reveal the cause of death.

Elena Moore, 39, disappeared under mysterious circumstances after checking into Planet Fitness in Lexington on June 11, a location just 20 minutes from Columbia.

Her body was subsequently discovered nearly a week later, on June 17, after authorities received a tip-off that she had last been seen walking toward woods near Lakeside Middle School. This was just over a mile away from where she was last known to be, according to the Lexington Police Department.

Moore’s attire when she was found—a familiar olive-green zip-up hoodie and black athletic pants—matched that captured by gym surveillance on the day she vanished.

The footage showed her conversing with the front desk staff before being last observed heading toward a wooded area situated behind the nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement Store.

Moore’s autopsy, which was conducted on Saturday, did not identify an immediate cause of death, according to the Lexington County Coroner’s Office.

‘Examination of the body revealed no evidence of traumatic injury, including no bruising, lacerations, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, blunt force trauma, strangulation, or other external injuries,’ the coroner said.

‘As a result, the cause of death remains pending at this time. Additional evaluation is required, including histological studies, review of medical records, and toxicology testing.’

The coroner’s office said it will not release any further information about Moore until all pending studies have been completed and the pathologist has determined the cause and manner of death.

It remains unclear what Moore may have been doing in the wooded area where the body was found.

The Lexington Police Department told the Daily Mail the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has taken over the investigation into Moore’s death.

On June 4, a week before her disappearance, Moore was caught by a doorbell camera about half a mile from the gym, appearing confused as she tried to enter a stranger’s home. 

The footage, first obtained by NewsNation, showed a DoorDash driver delivering food at the door before Moore, wearing black clothes and oversized sunglasses, who picked up the order and handed it to the couple living there.

Moore can be seen briefly interacting with a DoorDash driver, then appears to be muttering to herself as the door opens and the order is collected.

Moore briefly seemed to try to walk into the home before the door was shut in her face, leaving her outside in the hallway.

Resident John Moore, of no relation, said the missing woman ‘seemed really confused and disoriented about where she was or whatever she was doing.’

Sarah Burleson, John Moore’s wife, told NewsNation that she later saw the missing woman going through a neighbor’s packages.

Moore allegedly told Burleson that she did not know what she was doing.

The personal trainer was an active social media user, but abruptly stopped posting around a month before she disappeared.  

On a second Instagram account, however, Moore shared emotional messages, including a recount of how someone let her ‘destroy’ herself to keep ‘us’ alive,’ messages seen by TMZ revealed.

In the post, Moore said that she felt ‘exhausting hatred’ from the ordeal and added: ‘I never wanted to look at someone I once loved with disgust and resentment.’

The heart-wrenching message detailed how a person ‘watched me love you with everything I had,’ only to ‘hurt me anyway.’

‘…you turned love into something painful, something heavy, something I now have to heal from every single day,’ the message continued.

‘I hate what you did to me. I hate the memories that won’t leave me alone, and more than anything, I hate that a part of me still mourns the person I thought you were.’

Moore was reported missing by her husband, Brannon Slice, on June 12, and her body was discovered by law enforcement five days later. 

The Daily Mail contacted the Lexington County Coroner’s Office and SLED for comment.

LOS ANGELES — After two days of deliberations, a jury remains deadlocked in the trial of the man accused of igniting the catastrophic 2025 Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, leaving attorneys to consider their next moves.

On Thursday, jurors in the case of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht were unable to reach a unanimous decision on three federal charges against him. This announcement came shortly after they initially reported reaching a consensus. The jury has been instructed to reconvene Friday morning.

Typically, judges refrain from declaring a mistrial until exploring every possibility to confirm that the jury is indeed at an impasse.

“We have people on both sides that are dead set, unwavering and unwilling to change their opinion,” a message from the jury, read by Judge Anne Hwang, revealed. “We are at a standstill. We are unsure how to proceed.”

Rinderknecht, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of starting the blaze that ranks among California’s most devastating wildfires. He faces charges of arson, malicious destruction by means of fire, and setting timber on fire.

Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1, 2025, that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later. The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7 and burned through the hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, killing 12 people.

His trial began June 8 and has featured lengthy testimony from investigators, experts and witnesses from surrounding areas. While the government lacked direct evidence that Rinderknecht sparked the first fire, they placed him in the area and showed he was angry and erratic on the night of the blaze. A potential motive, they said, was his frustration at the rich and powerful. His defense argued the blaze’s cause was more likely to be fireworks.

Hwang sent a note asking if there was anything the court could do to help with deliberations, such as additional instructions or re-reading of testimony. The jury said no. She then asked if the jury was split on all three of Rinderknecht’s charges, and the jury confirmed it was.

Prosecutors suggested that the judge offer additional argument to help the jurors continue to deliberate, but Rinderknecht’s attorneys opposed. They also suggested an Allen charge, which is essentially a more strongly worded jury instruction that urges a hung jury to continue trying to come to an agreement.

Both sides asked for the jury to return Friday so they had more time to plan their options.

Rinderknecht’s father, who has been in court for the duration of the trial, put his head in his hands when the jury said it was at a standstill. His brother and sister were in court as well.

Rinderknecht was feeling “a lot of anxiety” as he listened to proceedings in court, his attorney Steve Haney said.

“You can imagine his life’s on the line. … It’s been a long run for him,” Haney said. “He’s been locked up for 10 months.”