Lawyers for the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk said that he should not face the death penalty because only the “intended target” was hit and no one else was put in grave danger.
Prosecutors in Utah have charged the man, Tyler Robinson, 23, with aggravated murder and are seeking capital punishment, because they say he “knowingly created a great risk of death” to people around Mr. Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist. Mr. Kirk was shot in the throat last year while speaking at a college’s outdoor amphitheater.
But in a legal briefing this week, Mr. Robinson’s lawyers argued that Mr. Kirk’s assassin had fired a single bullet “above, not through,” the crowd of thousands that came to see Mr. Kirk speak at Utah Valley University last September.
“The shooter did not miss his intended target and did not chamber another round, leaving the spent cartridge in the rifle,” the court-appointed lawyers wrote.
Mr. Robinson has not entered a plea, and his lawyers did not say that their client was the gunman.
In hearings last month, prosecutors presented evidence against Mr. Robinson, including an account from his former lover of Mr. Robinson’s admitting to the killing and expressing regret.
Judge Tony Graf could decide as soon as Sept. 1, after oral arguments, whether prosecutors have presented enough evidence to take Mr. Robinson to trial.
At this stage, prosecutors need only to establish probable cause that Mr. Robinson committed the crimes, and many experts expect the case to proceed toward a high-profile, televised trial. But Mr. Robinson’s lawyers made several new arguments about prosecutors not meeting that burden — including the one about the gunman hitting his “intended target” — as they urged the judge not to allow the case to move forward.
Prosecutors contended that allowing the trial to proceed should be a straightforward decision. They argued that Mr. Robinson had created a great risk of death “to everyone who was in his line of fire, or who was near Mr. Kirk” — including a man who was posing questions to Mr. Kirk — as well as others in what they called a “zone of danger.”
Charging Mr. Robinson with aggravated murder on the grounds of danger to others let prosecutors seek the death penalty. A standard murder charge carries a penalty of 15 years to life in prison.
Mr. Kirk was a fiery proponent of conservative and religious views, delighting in drawing controversy. He was known for hosting events during which he invited people who disagreed with him to engage in debate.
Mr. Robinson’s legal team, led by the Salt Lake City defense lawyer Kathryn Nester, argued that prosecutors had failed to show that Mr. Robinson targeted Mr. Kirk because of his political views.
Mr. Robinson texted his then-roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, after the shooting, referring to Mr. Kirk and saying that he had “had enough of his hatred,” according to court papers. Mr. Robinson’s mother also told the police that her son had moved to the left politically and that he had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented” before the shooting. For a time, Mr. Twiggs identified as a woman to close friends.
But Mr. Robinson’s lawyers said that the text to Mr. Twiggs was not enough to show that the shooting was carried out because of Mr. Kirk’s political beliefs. They accused the state of speculating that Mr. Robinson was referring to Mr. Kirk’s opposition to gay marriage and gender transitions, the latter of which Mr. Kirk described as a “middle finger to God.”
“The state focuses on Mr. Robinson’s sexuality and Mr. Twiggs’s gender identity, if only because those are two topics on which Mr. Kirk was, in fact, widely viewed as expressing hatred and intolerance,” the lawyers wrote. “However, that is not an evidentiary substitute for proof that Mr. Robinson targeted Mr. Kirk because of those expressions.”
The lawyers also said that the prosecution had unfairly relied on hearsay at last month’s hearing, and that a felony charge of witness tampering — for asking Mr. Twiggs to stay quiet — did not pass muster. Mr. Robinson told Mr. Twiggs to “ask for a lawyer and stay silent” only to help his lover, they said, not to obstruct an investigation.
They also argued that a misdemeanor charge of a “violent offense committed in the presence of a child” should be struck because there was no evidence Mr. Robinson knew that someone under 14 would witness the killing, as the law requires.
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