Defense seeks to disqualify Utah prosecutor’s office in Charlie Kirk murder case

PROVO, Utah – Attorneys for the Utah electrician accused of killing Turning Level USA founder Charlie Kirk need the Utah County Lawyer’s Workplace disqualified from dealing with the case as a result of a member of the prosecution staff had an grownup baby current on the time of the killing.

However authorized consultants are divided on whether or not the connection constitutes an precise battle of curiosity.

“That is a type of motions that I believe is ridiculous,” stated Donna Rotunno, a Chicago legal legal professional and Fox Information contributor. “Usually I prefer to see a robust protection and legal professionals who do every little thing they will to guard their shopper, however I discover this frivolous in nature.”

ERIKA KIRK PUSHES BACK AGAINST ONLINE CONSPIRACY THEORIES OVER HUSBAND’S DEATH

Tyler Robinson, charged with the homicide of Charlie Kirk, will seem at a listening to Thursday, December 11, 2025, in Fourth District Court docket in Provo. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune by way of Pool)

It might be a battle if the member of the family’s presence may have an effect on the case ultimately, she advised Fox Information Digital. “If the member of the family was the sufferer, then this is perhaps a difficulty,” Rotunno stated. “If Erika Kirk was associated to a prosecutor, they might have extra floor to face on.”

Sometimes, a prosecutor could be disbarred or excluded from a case if there’s a battle of curiosity that may jeopardize the suspect’s proper to a good trial. With such a high-profile taking pictures at a public occasion in a small city, the connection is probably not all that uncommon.

“The authorized system takes conflicts of curiosity significantly, however a prosecutor is just not robotically disqualified simply because somebody in his household witnessed a traumatic occasion associated to the case,” stated Randolph Rice, a Baltimore legal professional and authorized analyst. “The important thing query is whether or not that relationship carries an actual threat of choices being pushed by emotion relatively than proof.”

Courts often require “a transparent, direct battle that threatens the suspect’s proper to a good trial” earlier than disqualifying a complete prosecutor’s workplace from a case, he stated.

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“On the similar time, prosecutors even have an obligation to keep away from even the looks of impropriety, particularly in a high-profile capital case the place public confidence is already on edge,” he stated.

The principle case is as dangerous as it may be for a protection staff, and if Robinson’s attorneys are profitable, new prosecutors within the case may have completely different views on the demise penalty, he stated.

Charlie Kirk speaks earlier than he’s killed throughout Turning Level’s go to to Utah Valley College in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret Information by way of AP)

“I’ve had circumstances prior to now the place we had to make use of a unique prosecutor as a result of we had been prosecuting a person who was intently associated to an worker within the workplace,” he stated. “There have been additionally conditions the place we had to usher in completely different judges from completely different jurisdictions who weren’t accustomed to the member of the family of a lawyer who was being prosecuted.”

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Nevertheless, there’s additionally the prospect that federal prosecutors will file new prices to make sure the attainable demise penalty stays on the desk.

“Permitting this prosecutor or district legal professional’s workplace to kick off the case opens up the likelihood that one other authorities company will assessment the case in a different way and presumably not search the demise penalty — which might be an enormous victory for Tyler Robinson’s staff and for him,” he stated.

The state countered that the prosecutor in query has no private battle of curiosity — and that even when he did, it would not prolong to your complete workplace. Utah County Lawyer Jeff Grey, who campaigned for workplace on a platform of in search of the demise penalty the place applicable and justified, additionally argued that the deputy prosecutor’s connection to a witness performed no function in his choice to file a discover of intent to hunt the demise penalty in opposition to Robinson.

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1000’s of different individuals noticed the killing, in accordance with court docket paperwork, and prosecutors do not must depend on the member of the family, who they are saying had no private information of “the precise killing.” Based on a legal grievance, the grownup baby had no direct line of sight to the sniper’s location on the roof, solely to the place Kirk was sitting.

Lawyer Richard Novak, prime, speaks with Christopher Ballard, basic counsel of the Utah County Lawyer’s Workplace, throughout a listening to for Tyler Robinson, charged with the homicide of Charlie Kirk, in Fourth District Court docket in Provo, Utah, on December 11, 2025. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune by way of Pool)

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Nevertheless, throughout the chaos, the witness texted with household, together with the accuser.

“CHARLIE GOT SHOT,” learn one poignant submit.

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Decide Tony Graf will hear arguments on the case at 1:00 PM MT.

Stepheny Value of Fox Information contributed to this report.