Judge Denies Tyler Robinson's Motion to Disqualify Utah Prosecutors in Charlie Kirk Assassination Case

After months of delay, a judge has denied a request from Tyler Robinson's attorneys that the Utah County prosecutors' office be disqualified from his upcoming murder trial, RadarOnline.com can report.

Robinson, who is accused of killing Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus, has still not yet entered a plea or faced a preliminary hearing for the murder, despite sitting in jail on the charges since September.

Robinson's attorneys had argued to disqualify the entire Utah prosecutorial team because the adult child of one of the prosecutors attended the Turning Point USA event on September 10 at Utah Valley University and was in the audience when Kirk, 31, was shot and killed.

The 22-year-old's lawyers argued the particular prosecutor had an "emotional connection" to the case, and could "motivate" the state to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted.

But in their official response, state lawyers said that was not the case.

"(The attorney) has no personal conflict of interest because his (child) is neither a material witness nor a victim in the case," prosecutors argued.

"In fact, nearly everything (the child) knows about the actual homicide is hearsay. And because Mr. (redacted) has no conflict of interest, the county attorney's office also has no conflict of interest requiring disqualification."

Prosecutors defended that the 18-year-old was one of "thousands of other witnesses" and never saw the shooting. They pointed toward text messages exchanged between the lawyer father and his teenage daughter in the minutes after the shooting.

In frantic messages, the teen initially texted, "SOMEONE GOT SHOT," before reassuring family members, "I'm okay, everyone is going inside."

Prosecutors argued the texts showed the teen was confused and did not know the full story. That discredited the argument, they said, that she had direct involvement that could improperly influence prosecutorial decision-making.

Judge Tony Graf agreed and made his ruling on Tuesday, February 24.

Still to be determined is Erika Kirk's request for a speedy trial, which Charlie's grieving widow's lawyer asked for after repeated delays and stalling tactics from Robinson's defense.

In his filing, which Radar has obtained, Jeffrey Neiman wrote: "Nobody believed in the importance of the United States Constitution more than Charlie Kirk. And although the United States Constitution guarantees criminal defendants many rights, it does not guarantee them the right to cause undue delay in the criminal justice process.

"The Defendant in this case is entitled to a fair trial, and he must be given one, but he is not entitled to cause undue delay to the criminal justice process."

The Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants the right to a speedy trial, but Utah state law goes one step further, contending victims are also entitled to a speedy trial.

Prosecutors had already expressed their intent to most likely seek the death penalty against Robinson, and their case could be made easier after he reportedly confessed to Kirk's murder in a chat message to friends and family.

In a note to his lover, Lance Twiggs, who was transitioning to become a woman, Robinson allegedly wrote: "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it."

In the text exchange, when Twiggs asked Robinson why he allegedly shot Kirk, he replied: "I had had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out."