{"id":42496,"date":"2026-08-13T05:48:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42496"},"modified":"2026-08-13T05:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T00:48:27","slug":"defense-argues-against-death-penalty-for-kirk-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=42496","title":{"rendered":"Defense argues against death penalty for Kirk killer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/AP26190583840166-e1783795068661.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for the man accused of killing political commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University last year are now arguing the alleged shooter did not put any of the thousands of attendees in danger \u2014 a point they say prevents him from being eligible for the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/1072917678\/Robinson-defense-probable-cause-filing#from_embed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tuesday court filings<\/a>, the legal team of the accused assassin, Tyler Robinson, wrote that he only \u201chit the intended target\u201d during the shooting. Given this claim, they say the state has failed to meet the burden of proof for an aggravated murder charge \u2014 a capital felony that requires prosecutors prove additional circumstances.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>In the state of Utah, aggravated murder must involve at least one \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/le.utah.gov\/xcode\/Title76\/Chapter3\/76-3-S207.html\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/le.utah.gov\/xcode\/Title76\/Chapter3\/76-3-S207.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statutory aggravating factor<\/a>\u201d \u2014 such as the defendant holding previous violent crime convictions or in cases of the killing of a minor.<\/p>\n<p>In Robinson\u2019s case, prosecutors accused the shooter of posing \u201ca great risk of death\u201d to others, an eligible statutory factor, during Kirk\u2019s killing. Tuesday\u2019s filing also sought to refute that claim.<\/p>\n<p>The defense says the evidence submitted to the Utah County Attorney\u2019s Office shows that no one other than Kirk was in the line of fire during the shooting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only evidence presented supports that the bullets traveled above, not through, the crowd,\u201d Robinson\u2019s lawyers wrote in Tuesday\u2019s filing.<\/p>\n<p>Robinson\u2019s attorneys added that \u2014 in searches of communications between the alleged shooter and his roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs \u2014 there was \u201cno mention of any threat or intended harm to any other individual(s).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During previous hearings, prosecutors claimed Kirk had been targeted for his political beliefs, citing <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/5997169-kirk-shooting-lgbtq-motive\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/5997169-kirk-shooting-lgbtq-motive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">messages between Robinson and Twiggs<\/a> where the defendant allegedly wrote he \u201chad enough of his hatred. Some hate can\u2019t be negotiated out.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Robinson\u2019s legal team denied that Robinson targeted Kirk for political reasons, arguing that the message refers to general \u201chatred\u201d as opposed to specific politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese circumstances are not sufficient to establish, even by probable cause which if any political express of Mr. Kirk motivated Mr. Robinson to select Mr. Kirk for an act of violence,\u201d attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Robinson did not immediately respond to The Hill\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Robinson has yet to enter a plea for the charges. Utah District Judge Tony Graf will hold a hearing on Sept. 1, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/charlie-kirk-assassination-death-penalty-tyler-robinson-2e486bce004797c86f0bab4533a96a6f\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/charlie-kirk-assassination-death-penalty-tyler-robinson-2e486bce004797c86f0bab4533a96a6f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawyers for the man accused of killing political commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University last year are now arguing the alleged shooter did not put any of the thousands of attendees in danger \u2014 a point they say prevents him from being eligible for the death penalty. In Tuesday court filings,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/AP26190583840166-e1783795068661.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}