PROVO, Utah (AP) — A Utah judge is expected to decide Tuesday whether to keep a prosecutor on the murder case against Tyler Robinson, the man charged in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Robinson, 22, who is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem.
Robinson has not yet entered a plea and a trial date is not set.
State District Judge Tony Graf has been weighing several fairness issues including whether to disqualify Utah County Chief Deputy Attorney Chad Grunander.
Robinson’s attorneys argue that Grunander has a conflict of interest because his daughter was in the audience when Kirk was shot.
An estimated 3,000 people were at the outdoor rally to hear Kirk when he was shot onstage. A co-founder of Turning Point USA, Kirk helped mobilize young people to vote for President Donald Trump.
Grunander’s daughter, whose identity has not been disclosed to news media covering the case, testified in court that she did not record video of the shooting or the aftermath. She was looking at the crowd and did not learn until after she ran to safety that Kirk had been the person who was shot, she told the court.
The judge has meanwhile prevented full video recordings of Kirk’s shooting from being shown in court after defense attorneys objected out of concern that the footage would undermine Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
Defense attorneys also seek to keep TV cameras and photographers out of the courtroom, arguing that “highly biased” news outlets risk tainting the case. Prosecutors, attorneys for news organizations and Kirk’s widow have urged Graf to keep the proceedings open.
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