The judge presiding over the case of Charlie Kirk’s accused shooter won’t kick Utah County prosecutors off the case, rejecting a request from Tyler Robinson’s defense.
Utah 4th District Court Tony Graf read his ruling during a remote hearing to attorneys and Robinson, who joined from the Utah County Jail with his camera turned off.
The defense has repeatedly argued there is a conflict of interest because one of the Utah County prosecutors has an 18-year-old daughter who was at the Utah Valley University event where Kirk was killed last September. Especially since prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty for Robinson if convicted.
Robinson’s team didn’t just want the individual attorney, Chad Grunander, kicked off the case. They argued the whole Utah County Attorney’s Office should be disqualified because there was no effort made to wall Grundander off from the case.
Graf said no evidence has been shown of a conflict of interest, nor that any attorney’s decisions were influenced by the daughter’s experience during the shooting. Her earlier testimony was that she heard the shot, but didn’t see Kirk get hit, and that she wasn’t traumatized by the event.
Graf gave examples of cases where prosecutors were found to have conflicts of interest. But in the ones he highlighted, the prosecutors had substantial personal or financial ties to the defendant or the defendant’s crime. That’s not the case here, Graf ruled. He said there’s no evidence that Grunander, or any member of his family, had a biased relationship with Robinson.
“Nor does the record show that Mr. Grunander’s professional judgment has been or is substantially likely to be, materially limited by his loyalty to his daughter,” Graf read from his ruling.
The defense’s accusation of a conflict of interest is especially serious in this case, Graf said, since it is a death penalty case. He said he reviewed the facts carefully and found no evidence that the daughter’s presence at the rally was a factor in Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray’s decision to seek the death penalty, as the defense had alleged.
“As to the decision to seek death, the court finds that the daughter's presence at the rally did not factor into the prosecutorial analysis,” Graf read.
This means both Grunander and the entire Utah County Attorney’s Office will continue to prosecute Robinson for Kirk’s murder.
Graf said prosecutors don’t have to be completely neutral and detached from issues in a case. While there are ethical and legal boundaries to that, there wasn’t evidence that Gray or Grunander had crossed them. He also wasn’t convinced there was even an appearance of bias, something the defense also argued.
The end of the hearing dealt with scheduling. Robinson, who hasn’t yet entered a plea, is set to have a preliminary hearing in May. Before that, there are still outstanding issues Graf has to hear and rule on, such as the defense’s push to completely ban cameras from the courtroom and ban media from recording audio.
“I recognize that you all have challenging schedules,” Graf told both sides. “But this case must have priority as this Court is trying to balance the constitutional rights of all parties in being timely in its process.”
Graf asked, in a measured but firm tone, for all parties to do their best in accommodating schedules.
This comes after attorneys for Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, filed a notice in January asserting her right to a speedy trial since she is the victim’s representative in this case.
