CNN
By Andi Babineau, Nick Watt, CNN
(CNN) — Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, is in a Utah court Friday afternoon for what could be a consequential hearing in the case.
Robinson’s defense attorneys allege a conflict of interest exists at the Utah County Attorney’s Office and are arguing to have the entire office disqualified from prosecuting the case – the latest development on the road to a state trial for the killing of the prominent conservative activist.
Robinson, dressed in a light blue button up shirt and tie, appeared calm as his attorney began Friday’s hearing by asking the judge to designate the state Attorney General to litigate the motion on the conflict of interest instead of the attorney’s office. The court is now in recess as Judge Tony Graf weighs the next move.
The defense team first addressed the potential conflict of interest during an October 24 hearing that was at the time sealed to the public: An attorney’s 18-year-old child was at the September 10 Utah Valley University event where Kirk was shot, according to court documents.
“A family member of one of the attorneys was present at the incident,” defense attorney Richard Novak told the court, according to a redacted transcript from the hearing. “Law enforcement were actually deployed to the area with her safety and status in mind.”
The attorney’s name has been redacted from public documents.
The daughter, a student at the university, was about 85 feet from where Kirk was seated, according to the documents.
The county attorney’s office will argue no conflict of interest exists because the attorney’s daughter, referred to as “adult child (AC)” in court documents, “did not see Charlie get shot,” and “did not see anyone [in the crowd or elsewhere] with a gun.”
The attorney’s office won’t be calling the daughter as a witness in the case because “nearly everything [AC] knows about the actual homicide is hearsay,” a document filed by the attorney’s office says. “And because Mr. [Dpty Atty] has no conflict of interest, the County Attorney’s Office also has no conflict of interest requiring disqualification.”
The defense also implies in its motion to disqualify that the attorney’s office’s decision to pursue the death penalty so quickly in the case may have been related to the alleged conflict of interest.
“The rush to seek death in this case evidences strong emotional reactions” by the prosecution, the motion says.
In Utah, prosecutors have 60 days after an arraignment to file notice of intent to pursue the death penalty against a defendant.
The attorney’s office pushed back on that assertion in their response, saying “there is nothing unusual or untoward about filing a death penalty notice before a preliminary hearing.”
The evidence and circumstances of the case “justify the death penalty,” and a delay “would have been unnecessarily unsettling and painful to Charlie Kirk’s loved ones and does not promote justice for anyone,” the court filing said.
Robinson will not be arr