Prosecutors’ ‘conflict’ in Charlie Kirk murder case revealed

Tyler Robinson’s legal team wants to boot Utah prosecutors off the Charlie Kirk murder case because one of their relatives was in the crowd at the time of the deadly shooting, a newly unsealed transcript has revealed.

The details of prosecutors’ alleged conflict of interest were first raised during a closed-door hearing on Oct. 24 — but the transcript from the hearing was only made public on Monday.

“The Utah County Attorneys have advised us that a family member of one of the attorneys was present at the incident at which Mr. Kirk was shot and killed,” defense attorney Richard Novak told Judge Tony Graf during the October hearing.

The defense team was informed by prosecutors that the relative “was within 85 feet of Mr. Kirk when he was killed; had to flee; that the Utah County Attorney’s Office was all advised of this; that law enforcement were actually deployed to the area with her safety and status in mind,” Novak said.

The defense attorney added that they would be filing a motion to disqualify the office because of the alleged conflict of interest. There are six prosecutors on Robinson’s case and the name of the prosecutor in question was redacted in court papers.

The alleged conflict of interest issue was first made public in other court docs on Dec. 17. Graf has not yet ruled on the issue.

The relative — a student — was at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 when the 31-year-old Turning Point USA co-founder was speaking to a crowd of thousands as part of his American Comeback Tour.

The family member actually texted the prosecutor in a family text group saying, “SOMEONE GOT SHOT,” and adding moments later, “I’m okay, everyone is going inside,” according to the December court papers filed by Robinson’s lawyers.

The prosecutor shared the texts with his boss, Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray, “in real time” as the two were at a presentation together, the court papers say.

The prosecutor and an investigator with the office went to the campus where the assassination occurred to find out exactly how far the relative was from Kirk. And they found out the relative left their backpack at the amphitheater as they were fleeing, the court papers said.

The prosecutor’s office shared this family connection with Robinson’s team on Oct. 1, saying the relative “will not be a witness for the state and that he does not believe that this circumstance presents a conflict precluding him from participating in the prosecution of Mr. Robinson,” the defense papers explained.

The majority of the secret October hearing was about Robinson’s bid to appear in civilian clothes and remain unshackled in court at all future hearings, otherwise potential jurors could be prejudiced against him, his lawyers argued.

Prosecutors opposed the requests, saying they could better maintain courtroom security if Robinson was easily identifiable in jail clothes and if he was shackled. At a later hearing, Graf ultimately ruled that the press could not capture images of Robinson’s restraints and that he could wear non-jail clothes.

Robinson, 22, is facing seven felony charges of aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.

He remains behind bars pending trial and could face death by firing squad if convicted since Utah is one of five states that still allows for the antiquated method of carrying out capital punishment.