The man accused of killing Charlie Kirk will have an experienced team of lawyers representing him in the high-profile capital murder case.
Utah County hired three attorneys to represent Tyler James Robinson after 4th District Court Judge Tony Graf found he doesn’t have the financial means to pay a lawyer.
Salt Lake City attorney Kathryn N. Nester is the lead counsel, while Michael N. Burt and Richard G. Novak, both of California, are co-counsel. All have substantial experience in death penalty cases.
Robinson allegedly shot Kirk with a high-powered rifle from a rooftop as the conservative political activist spoke at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. At the urging of his parents and a family friend, Robinson turned himself in to police near his home in Washington County, Utah, the next day. Authorities announced the arrest in a press conference Sept. 12.
Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder and six other crimes in connection with the fatal shooting. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray is pursuing the death penalty.
The county estimates the taxpayer-funded defense and prosecution of Robinson to exceed $1.3 million — $750,000 for the court-appointed lawyers and $600,000 for additional staff in the county attorney’s office.
Well-qualified attorneys
The Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure requires lawyers assigned to death penalty cases to meet certain criteria, including extensive experience in felony or capital cases, completing approved death penalty education and having sufficient time and resources to provide a rigorous defense. The rule calls for the court to appoint at least two attorneys in capital cases.
Nester, Burt and Novak appear to possess those credentials, according to declarations filed in court this week.
Nester has done criminal defense work for 33 years, appearing as lead or co-counsel in nine aggravated, felony and capital murder cases in state and federal court in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, California and Utah. Two of them proceeded to a verdict.
Burt has practiced law for 47 years, including as head trial attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office for 24 years. He has specialized in capital cases the past 18 years and is the editor-in-chief of the California Death Penalty Defense Manual.
According to his court declaration, he has tried over 50 cases before a jury, including eight lengthy capital cases in state or federal courts in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Pennsylvania. He has been appointed “learned counsel” in 27 federal death penalty cases throughout the country, meaning he is an expert in that area of the law.
Novak, according to his declaration, has practiced law since 1990, with an emphasis on criminal defense work, including capital defense for the last 20 years. He has been lead or co-counsel in over 25 death-eligible homicide cases in federal courts in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and California, and in state court in California. He worked as a federal public defender before going into private practice.
Nester’s office declined to comment about the case.
Robinson’s next court hearing
Robinson is held in the Utah County Jail without bail. A hand-written notation in a Sept. 24 court filing restricting his possession of firearms reads “high risk/suicide watch.”
He made his initial court appearance via video conference from the jail last week wearing a suicide-prevention smock, which court officials said is standard for high-profile prisoners.
Robinson is entitled to a preliminary hearing under Utah law, where the judge decides if the prosecution has enough evidence for a trial. An arraignment then follows in which the defendant enters either a guilty or not guilty plea to the charges.
He is due in court Sept. 29 for a waiving hearing in which he can decide whether to give up his right to a preliminary hearing to move more quickly to the arraignment. Initially scheduled as a virtual hearing, Graf this week changed it to an in-person hearing.
Death penalty cases in Utah
Aggravated murder is the only offense subject to the death penalty in Utah. The law contains a list of circumstances under which prosecutors could charge a person with that offense including, “the murderer knowingly created a great risk of death to a person other than the victim and the murderer,” which what prosecutors cited in the Robinson case.
In addition to the that case, the Utah County attorney is prosecuting one of the other two active death penalty cases in Utah.
Michael Aaron Jayne, 42, of Garrett, Indiana, is accused of intentionally hitting and killing Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser with his semitrailer on I-15, after being pulled over for a stop sign violation last year. Jayne is charged with aggravated murder and several other felonies.
Just last month, Ryan Michael Bate, 30, allegedly shot and killed Tremonton Police Sgt. Lee Sorensen and officer Eric Estrada when they responded to a domestic dispute at his home.
The Box Elder County Attorney’s Office filed two counts of aggravated murder against Bate, among other felony crimes.
There are currently four men on death row in Utah. The average length of stay on death row is about 34 years. Lethal injection is the primary method of execution in Utah but firing squad is an alternative method. Executions are carried out at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.