Prison Justice
Utah contracts with former federal defender chief to signify suspect in Charlie Kirk capturing dying
September 26, 2025, 9:59 am CDT
On this handout video display seize offered by the Utah State Courts, Tyler James Robinson attends a digital court docket listening to from the Utah County Jail on Sept. 16, 2025, in Spanish Fork, Utah. (Photograph by the Utah State Courts by way of Getty Photographs)
Utah County has employed a personal lawyer with important felony protection expertise to signify the person accused of fatally capturing conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
The lawyer, former federal public defender Kathryn N. Nester, will signify Tyler James Robinson, 22, below a contract with the county, report the Salt Lake Tribune, KSL, ABC Information and Fox Information.
Robinson may face the dying penalty if convicted of Kirk’s Sept. 10 capturing dying at Utah Valley College.
Nester was beforehand the manager director of the Federal Defenders of San Diego, the federal public defender for the District of Utah and an assistant federal public defender within the Southern District of Mississippi. She is at present a accomplice at Nester Lewis.
Nester has additionally represented Kouri Richins, a grief creator accused of killing her husband after which writing a youngsters’s ebook about grief.
The full price of the Robinson illustration is unknown, however the contract is anticipated to price $750,000 over the subsequent 12 months, Utah County spokesperson Richard Piatt informed the Salt Lake Tribune. The prosecutor’s workplace is anticipated to obtain about $600,000 for its elevated bills.
Commissioner Skyler Beltran informed the Salt Lake Tribune that commissioners don’t have a selection on funding the protection and prosecution.
“We’re going to approve over 1,000,000 {dollars} in the present day in an expense for an occasion that we didn’t need,” he stated. “None of us wished [it] and it occurred to be right here, and our taxpayers will now foot the invoice. It’s very unlucky.”
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