Tyler Robinson’s defense is asking a judge to impose the death penalty in the fight over the ATF report
Tyler Robinson’s defense seeks delay, fights cameras in Utah court
The legal battles are heating up as Tyler Robinson’s defense seeks to limit evidence and delay the trial of Charlie Kirk’s murder in Utah, where prosecutors are planning the death penalty. Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony’s parents are challenging his Texas manslaughter conviction, citing a mistrial. The section also highlights growing parental rights concerns over Virginia school gender policies, prompting congressional hearings.
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Attorneys for Tyler Robinson are asking a Utah judge to strike down a recent filing by prosecutors opposing their request for the death penalty as punishment for allegedly violating a gag order.
Robinson’s team argued in court Thursday that it would be an appropriate sanction after prosecutors discussed the case outside of court.
“The only way this Court can show that its orders, and the rules of conduct that must be followed by a lawyer, are not arbitrary when it comes to the State’s lawyers, even in this case, is to compel the signed lawyer under the sentence requested by this Court: to strike the death notice of the State,” reads the request, signed by the defendant’s lawyers Kathryn Nesser, Richard Burt and Novakci.
Prosecutors argued that they did not violate a gag order or any other court rules when they “set the record straight” after what they called a misleading statement from a defense filing that led to viral news coverage suggesting that the ATF was unable to match the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk to the alleged murder weapon, Robinson’s grandfather’s gun.
CHARLIE KIRK KILLING: DAILY MAIL ACCUSED OF ‘BAD JOURNALISM’ OVER LEAKED BULLET ANALYSIS
Tyler Robinson is accused of shooting and killing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at a public speaking event at Utah Valley University in September. (Bethany Baker/Pool via REUTERS, Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
The ATF was unable to identify or rule out Robinson’s grandfather’s gun as the source of the bullet fragment found on Kirk, citing tool-mark analysis as incomplete, according to court records. But the quality was the same, and the casing used was also the same.
Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of killing Kirk during the Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
The backlash turned into a war of words, with prosecutors accusing the defense of releasing misleading information at trial, and the defense accusing prosecutors of “hubris” in responding to a series of media interviews they said violated the gag order.
CHARLIE KIRK’S CASE HAS BEEN STANDARD BECAUSE OF MEDIA DELAYS
Tyler Robinson appears during a hearing in the Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. Suspected of killing Charlie Kirk. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Robinson’s attorneys want the objection written by prosecutors to be struck out because the judge did not specifically request it. During Friday’s hearing, the court ordered the parties to discuss the attorneys’ alleged contempt and possible consequences orally — but did not ask the parties to put the documents in writing, Robinson’s attorneys wrote.
Prosecutors also did not cooperate with the defendants before they filed their objections earlier this week, they argued.
Robinson’s lawyers want prosecutors to be punished for talking about the case outside of court — and Robinson’s lawyers argue that taking the potential death penalty off the table for that would be the right answer.
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Utah Deputy District Attorney Christopher Ballard and Utah Deputy District Attorney Ryan McBride appear in 4th District Court in Provo during the trial of Tyler Robinson, accused in the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, on May 19, 2026. (Trent Nelson/Pool)
Prosecutors say that would be an overreaction.
“The downgrading of aggravated manslaughter from a first degree charge to a first degree charge is in stark contrast to the allegations of misconduct,” Utah County Deputy District Attorney Ryan McBride wrote.
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He went on to say that neither the gag rule in the Robinson case nor the state court had prevented prosecutors from correcting what they saw as misleading court filings.
PROSECUTORS PLAN TO ‘SOIL’ KIRK SUSPECT TYLER ROBINSON FOR JURY WASWAY TO FACE THE DEATH PERSON: FMR US ATTY
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, throws hats into the crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025, shortly before he was shot and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
State law “clearly allows attorneys to make ‘statements that a reasonable attorney would believe are necessary to protect a client from the substantial and unduly discriminatory consequences of recent matters initiated by the attorney,'” he wrote.
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Prosecutors deny wrongdoing and insist they are allowed to “set the record straight.”
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The claim, which prosecutor Christopher Ballard described as misleading and “false,” generated millions of views from just one report — and prompted additional coverage in local and national media.
It also fueled unconfirmed allegations that other people may have been responsible for Kirk’s murder.
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But the defense left out an important part of the story, according to Ballard, in another filing.
“ATF could not identify or not the bullet seems to have been fired from a gun,” he wrote, emphasizing the missing details written in italics.
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“The defendant reinforced this misleading assumption by following it up by saying, ‘attorneys may decide to offer the testimony of the ATF firearms analyst as exculpatory evidence,'” he added.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. He is expected to announce his decision on the matter at the hearing on Monday.
