Utah prosecutors and a broad coalition of media organizations are pushing back against attempts by alleged Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson’s defense to shield court filings from public view, arguing there's no justification for the secrecy.
Prosecutors argued that Robinson's defense has failed to both justify secretive filings and to explain how their public release would violate his right to a fair trial in the assassination of the Turning Point USA founder. They wrote that the remedy for the defense's concerns should be part of jury selection, not secret pre-trial filings.
"Given Defendant's inadequate justification for restricting access to his motion, and the existence of these 'reasonable ways to ensure a fair trial' despite pre-trial publicity, Defendant has not rebutted the presumption that the public should have access to his motion," Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard wrote to the judge last week.
For the media group, which includes Fox News along with other national and local outlets, the constitutional arguments largely weigh the First Amendment rights of the public as a whole against Robinson's right to a fair trial.
Lawyers for the media coalition have argued they are being forced to guess what evidence the defense wants excluded, because the underlying motion was filed under seal on Jan. 9. This creates confusion for the public, they warned.
According to defense filings, the public’s right of access is not absolute, while Robinson's right to a fair trial is. They want their 200-page motion to block news cameras to the courtroom classified, arguing that its undisclosed contents could unfairly prejudice the jury pool against their client.
"My take is that the defendant’s efforts to keep things under wraps is doomed," said Royal Oakes, a media attorney and legal analyst who successfully convinced a California judge to televise the OJ Simpson murder trial in the 1990s. "Not every document, snippet of testimony, or fact is automatically open to the public and press simply because it relates to a legal proceeding — but nearly everything is."
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The Supreme Court has found "pretrial publicity, even if pervasive and concentrated, cannot be regarded as leading automatically and in every kind of criminal case to an unfair trial," according to a filing from the prosecution.
"Any paperwork submitted by one of the parties supporting or opposing the sealing of documents, or the closing of court proceedings, or the approval or disapproval of cameras should absolutely be public documents," Oakes told Fox News Digital. "Transparency not only encourages people to do the right thing, it lets the public and the press push back if secrecy is unwarranted."
Robinson's defense has also taken issue with closeup video of his face, which they claimed was abused by "lip readers" to distort courtroom conversations, and is accusing the media of trying to "turn a profit at the expense of allowing this case to proceed as the Constitution requires—both public and fair."
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"The News Media uses their platforms to, for example, call for Mr. Robinson's death, to have 'body language experts' make irrelevant and entirely unscientific claims about Mr. Robinson's character, and to transmit video worldwide that is in clear violation of the Court's orders," the defense argued.
The media coalition pushed back hard against those claims, arguing the defense is misapplying outdated law. At least one of their arguments relies on a precedent that was effectively overruled, decades ago, by the Supreme Court, according to a filing from media lawyers.
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"The seven-to-one reversal of the closure order in Richmond Newspapers, relying entirely upon the First Amendment, represented an extraordinary reevaluation by, and realignment of, the Court on the issue of access," media attorneys wrote. "As a result, 'Gannett was effectively overruled within a year of its release.'"
Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Kirk from a rooftop during a public speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, back in September. According to previously released court filings from the prosecution, Robinson is believed to have spent about a week planning the murder and allegedly confessed to his lover, friends and his family.
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A text message exchange that prosecutors allege took place between Robinson and Lance Twiggs, the lover and roommate who is cooperating with investigators contains what appears to be an explicit confession:
"You weren’t the one who did it right????" Twiggs wrote.
"I am, I’m sorry," Robinson allegedly replied.
Defense attorneys have not addressed the alleged exchange or responded to a number of Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
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He has not yet entered a plea, and prosecutors have not yet convinced the court of probable cause due to repeated postponements of his preliminary hearing and arraignment.
Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted of the top charge against him, aggravated murder.
Separately, the defense is vying to have prosecutors kicked off the case over a purported conflict of interest. One of the deputy Utah County attorneys on the case had an adult child who was in the crowd at UVU during Kirk's murder.
Prosecutors have denied a conflict. Robinson is due back in court Tuesday afternoon for a continuation of a hearing on the matter. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray will return to the witness stand.
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