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A Utah judge is expected to decide Friday whether Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, could still face the death penalty amid defense claims that prosecutors violated a gag order.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. is set to consider whether the prosecution breached his order or ran afoul of state court rules, and what sanctions, if any, should follow.
Robinson’s attorneys have argued that the only meaningful remedy would be to strike the state’s notice seeking a potential death sentence. Utah County prosecutors, however, say that would be an excessive punishment if the court finds any violation occurred.
“The only way that this Court can demonstrate that its orders, and the ethical rules that counsel must obey, are not optional when it comes to the State’s attorneys, even in this case, is to impose the sanction undersigned counsel have urged upon this Court: striking the State’s death notice,” reads the filing, signed by defense attorneys Kathryn Nester, Richard Novak, Michael Burt and Staci Visser.
Tyler Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at a public speaking event at Utah Valley University in September. (Bethany Baker/Pool via REUTERS, Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Prosecutors maintain they did not violate the gag order or any court rules. They say they were attempting to “set the record straight” after a defense filing prompted widespread coverage suggesting the ATF could not connect the bullet that killed Kirk to the suspected murder weapon, identified as Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle.
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According to court records, ATF analysts could neither identify nor exclude Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle as the source of the bullet fragment recovered from Kirk, calling the tool mark analysis inconclusive. The caliber, however, was consistent, and investigators said a spent casing was also a match.
Charlie Kirk throws a “Make America Great Again” hat to the crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking at his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Neither the gag order on Robinson’s case nor state court rules prohibited prosecutors from correcting what they saw as the defense’s misleading court filing, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of assassinating Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Investigators search a taped-off area in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 11, 2025, related to the hunt for evidence in the assassination of Charlie Kirk during a rally at UVU. (Derek Shook for News Agency)
The back-and-forth has evolved into a war of words, with prosecutors accusing the defense of releasing misleading information through court filings, and the defense accusing prosecutors of “hubris” when responding in a string of media interviews they claim violate a gag order.
Robinson will attend remotely from jail. He has not yet entered a plea and is not expected to until after his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to take place over a week in early July.
