A Utah prosecutor involved in the case against Tyler Robinson, the alleged killer of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, denied allegations of a conflict of interest in the case during a hearing on Tuesday.
Robinson’s attorneys have argued that a judge should disqualify local prosecutors because the adult daughter of Chad Grunander, a deputy county attorney, was in attendance at the rally on a Utah college campus where Kirk was shot dead. The defense alleges that the office’s move to seek the death penalty just days after Kirk’s killing indicated a “strong emotional reaction” from Grunander, and suggested a conflict of interest.
Grunander and his daughter testified before Judge Tony Graf in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday. Grunander told the court his daughter’s presence did not play a role in his office’s decision to seek the death penalty, and prosecutors opted to do so because they felt they had sufficient evidence against Robinson.
The county attorney Jeffrey Gray testified on Tuesday that he had considered seeking the death penalty before authorities arrested Robinson, and said he had announced his intention to do so early because the case had already attracted significant attention from the public.
The testimony came as the defense and prosecution seek to hash out procedural issues in the case ahead of the trial, including whether graphic videos of the killing should be shown in court. Robinson’s attorneys have asked the judge in the case to block the footage, and requested to ban all cameras from the courtroom, arguing that “highly biased” media coverage could hinder his right to a fair trial.
Kirk’s widow, and prosecutors and attorneys for media outlets, have urged the judge to keep the proceedings open.
“In the absence of transparency, speculation, misinformation, and conspiracy theories are likely to proliferate, eroding public confidence in the judicial process,” Erika Kirk’s attorney wrote in a Monday court filing. “Such an outcome serves neither the interests of justice nor those of Ms Kirk.”
Robinson’s attorneys, however, have said that news media have become a “financial investor” in the case, and accused outlets of trying to determine what the defendant whispered to his attorneys with lip readers. During a hearing last month, a television camera operator zoomed in on Robinson’s face in violation of courtroom orders.
Legal experts have backed the validity of the defense team’s concerns. Media coverage in high-profile cases such as Tyler Robinson’s can have a direct “biasing effect” on potential jurors, said Valerie Hans, a professor at Cornell Law School.
“There were videos about the killing, and pictures and analysis (and) the entire saga of how this particular defendant came to turn himself in,” said Hans, a leading expert on the jury system. “When jurors come to a trial with this kind of background information from the media, it shapes how they see the evidence that is presented in the courtroom.”
Watching those videos might make people think, ‘Yeah, this was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel’,” Hans said.
Kirk was one of Donald Trump’s highest-profile allies and his organization, Turning Point USA, played a significant role in helping bolster Trump’s 2024 campaign. The national attention and political rhetoric around the case is expected to further complicate efforts to ensure Robinson receives a fair trial.
Even before Robinson was charged, people jumped to conclusions about who the shooter could be and what kind of politics he espoused, said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown.
“People are just projecting a lot of their own sense of what they think was going on, and that really creates concerns about whether they can be open to hearing the actual evidence that’s presented,” she said.
Robinson has not yet entered a plea in the case. Prosecutors have said he has been linked to the killing with DNA evidence. He reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred”.
