Tyler Robinson’s lawyers urged a Utah judge to close a July pretrial hearing to the public, alleging it could harm his ability to have a fair murder trial for allegedly killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
One of Robinson’s lawyers, Staci Visser, argued to Judge Tony Graf that the preliminary hearing, scheduled for July 6-10, should be held behind closed doors, expressing concern that evidence presented could be reported widely by the media and possibly taint the jury pool for the murder trial. Earlier this month, Graf denied a bid by Robinson’s lawyers to ban cameras from the courtroom during the trial.
“Our goal here is to prevent that from happening by avoiding publication of evidence before there has been admissibility determinations,” Visser argued before the court.
Visser proposed that the court close the July hearing and provide a transcript that includes only evidence deemed inadmissible for the trial.
“That’s the only way we see that we can protect our clients’ right to a fair trial and avoid evidence getting out that potentially is going to be challenged in the future and may not ultimately be used or admissible at trial,” Visser said.
Graf appeared skeptical of Visser’s proposal, questioning whether her proposal is overbroad rather than narrowly tailored to balance access and protect Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
“Simply saying closing the whole hearing. I don’t think that would conform with narrowly tailored, and saying, ‘Let’s just close the whole thing and then pick it apart afterward,’ wouldn’t you agree that that’s a bit broad?” Graf asked.
Visser said in the alternative, the defense would ask to make objections as the hearing goes on over what can be allowed and not allowed in the trial, but she warned that doing so would likely extend the length of the hearing.
“If that’s the preference, we can absolutely do that. I do think that it would interrupt the flow of the evidence and the presentation before the court to do it in that way, but if that’s the preference, we are also open to that solution,” Visser said.
“But our concern again is that a bunch of inadmissible evidence is going to be presented without any sort of testing before it is presented and put out into the world to the jurors and biasing our client’s right to a fair trial,” Visser added.
State prosecutors said they would prefer the preliminary hearing in July be open, rather than closed, arguing that “the public can trust what happens in this courtroom, and public confidence increases when people can see justice at work.” A lawyer for a coalition of media outlets, who have advocated that proceedings remain open and accessible to the public, urged Graf not to summarily close the July hearing, asserting that it is “really important that the public be allowed to access proceedings like this one.”
Graf did not issue an immediate ruling on the motion by Robinson’s lawyers, saying he will instead consider the arguments and issue a ruling during a virtual hearing at 10 a.m. local time on June 1.
JUDGE ALLOWS CAMERAS IN COURTROOM FOR TYLER ROBINSON MURDER TRIAL
During the trial, Robinson will face multiple charges for his alleged assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus in September. The maximum punishment for the charges against Robinson includes the death penalty.
Robinson’s trial is expected to be one of the most closely watched criminal cases of the year, after the public killing of Kirk sent shockwaves through politics last year. Authorities say Robinson had claimed Kirk spread “too much hate” and that his family said Robinson had espoused increasingly left-wing views, including on transgender ideology, in recent years.