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PROVO, Utah — Defense attorneys for the Utah electrician accused of assassinating Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk want the Utah County Attorney’s Office disqualified from handling the case because a member of the prosecution team had an adult child who was present for the murder.
But legal experts are split on whether the connection constitutes an actual conflict of interest.
“This is one of those motions I find ridiculous,” said Donna Rotunno, a Chicago criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor. “Normally I like to see a vigorous defense and attorneys doing everything they can to protect their client, but this is one that I find frivolous in nature.”
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It would be a conflict if the relative’s presence had some way of influencing the case, she told Fox News Digital. “If the family member was the victim, then maybe this is an issue,” Rotunno said. “If Erika Kirk was related to a prosecutor, they would have more ground to stand on.”
Typically, a prosecutor can be recused or disqualified from a case if there is a conflict of interest that would jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial. With such a high-profile shooting at a public event in a small town, the connection may not be so unusual.
“The legal system takes conflicts of interest seriously, but a prosecutor isn’t automatically disqualified just because someone in their family witnessed a traumatic event connected to the case,” said Randolph Rice, a Baltimore-based attorney and legal analyst. “The key issue is whether that relationship creates a real risk that decisions are being driven by emotion instead of evidence.”
Courts usually require “a clear, direct conflict that threatens the defendant’s right to a fair trial” before disqualifying an entire prosecutor’s office from a case, he said.
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“At the same time, prosecutors also have a duty to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, especially in a high-profile capital case where public trust is already on edge,” he said.
The capital case is as high-stakes as it can get for a defense team, and if Robinson’s lawyers are successful, new prosecutors on the case may have different views about the death penalty, he said.
“I have had cases in the past where we had to bring in a different prosecutor because we were prosecuting an individual who was tangentially related to an employee in the office,” he said. “Also had situations where we had to bring in different judges from different jurisdictions who were unfamiliar with a lawyer’s family member who was being prosecuted.”
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However, there’s also the chance that federal prosecutors add new charges to make sure the potential death penalty remains on the table.
“Getting this prosecutor or prosecutor’s office kicked off the case opens the possibility of a different state agency coming in and evaluating this case differently and possibly not seeking the death penalty — which would be a huge win for Tyler Robinson’s team and for him,” he said.
The state countered that the prosecutor in question does not have a personal conflict of interest — and that even if he did, it would not extend to the entire office. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, who campaigned for office on a platform of seeking the death penalty where appropriate and justified, also argued that the deputy prosecutor’s connection to a witness played no role in his decision to file a notice of intent to seek capital punishment against Robinson.
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Thousands of other people saw the murder, according to court filings, and prosecutors don’t need to rely on the relative, who they added had no personal knowledge of “the actual murder.” The adult child had no direct line of sight to the rooftop sniper’s perch, only to where Kirk was sitting, according to a prosecution filing.
During the chaos, however, the witness was texting with family, including the prosecutor.
“CHARLIE GOT SHOT,” read one harrowing message.
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Judge Tony Graf will hear arguments on the case at 1 p.m. MT.
Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
