Lawyers for Tyler Robinson Ask Judge to Take Death Penalty Off Table– legalinsurrection.com

Robinson’s defense has been stalling for months. It seems this is what they were really worried about.

FOX News reports:

Accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson asks judge to take potential death penalty off table

Lawyers for accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson are arguing that prosecutors haven’t established a case for the potential death penalty in a new court filing made public Tuesday night.

“The facts and the law require this Court to strike the sole aggravating factor,” defense attorneys Kathy Nester, Michael Burt, Richard Novak and Staci Visser wrote in a 41-page brief.

After a weeklong preliminary hearing in early July, Judge Tony Graf Jr. gave both sides in the case time to file briefs before he makes a decision on whether there is enough probable cause to send the case to trial — which he is expected to announce on Sept. 1.

Robinson, 23, is accused of shooting the 31-year-old Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, during a Turning Point USA event. Kirk had founded the group to promote conservatism on campuses around the country and was speaking in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 in the courtyard when he was struck and killed by a single bullet.

Robinson’s defense argued in Tuesday’s filing that prosecutors didn’t establish probable cause concerning the aggravating factor — that the shooting created a high probability of death to someone other than Kirk and that Robinson knew of that “high probability.”

Without the aggravator, the potential death penalty would be taken off the table.

“The State had over ten months to investigate the shooting death of Charlie Kirk and to develop legally sufficient evidence that Mr. Robinson ‘knowingly created a great risk of death to another other than Charlie Kirk and the defendant,’ the sole aggravator alleged in the Information which in theory exposes Mr. Robinson to the potential punishment of death,” Robinson’s attorneys wrote. “The State’s presentation of its evidence as to this alleged circumstance in aggravation at the preliminary hearing in July 2026 wholly fails to carry its burden of proof.”