Lawyers for the man accused of assassinating the conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last year renewed their efforts to ban cameras from the courtroom, arguing on Friday that video threatened their client’s ability to have a fair trial.
Judge Tony Graf, who is overseeing the case in Utah County Court, heard testimony from experts called both by prosecutors and lawyers for the man, Tyler Robinson, 23, who is charged with murdering Mr. Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem in September.
Judge Graf said he would consider the arguments and issue a ruling at a later date. He has already restricted news outlets from showing Mr. Robinson in restraints, or showing him entering and exiting the courtroom.
Prosecutors, and a group of more than a dozen news outlets, including The New York Times, have opposed Mr. Robinson’s efforts, arguing that his lawyers have failed to show that the footage is overly prejudicial or that Utah’s rules favor media access.
Mr. Robinson’s lawyers have cited videos and news coverage that they say have used the courtroom footage to paint their client in a bad light. They cited one example from The New York Post in which the outlet spoke to a lip reader who claimed that Mr. Robinson had told his lawyers, “I think about the shooting daily” while attending a hearing.
Mr. Robinson has not yet entered a plea in the case. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty. The authorities have accused him of assassinating Mr. Kirk, 31, the founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, while Mr. Kirk was speaking at a campus event. Mr. Robinson later sent text messages in which he said he had “had enough of his hatred,” prosecutors said.
The authorities have also said that ammunition found with a rifle near the scene included one cartridge with the phrase “Hey Fascist! Catch” etched onto it. Mr. Robinson’s romantic partner was transitioning from man to woman, prosecutors have said, and Mr. Kirk was answering a question about shootings carried out by transgender people when he was fatally shot in the neck.
A trial date has not yet been set in the case.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports for The Times on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice.
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