Tyler Robinson’s court hearing took a strange turn Friday when a Utah judge barred a media videographer from filming Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin in the courtroom over lip-reading concerns raised by the defense.<\/b>
\nTyler Robinson\u2019s court hearing took a strange turn Friday when a Utah judge barred a media videographer from filming Charlie Kirk\u2019s alleged assassin in the courtroom over lip-reading concerns raised by the defense.
Utah District Judge Tony Graf prohibited the pool cameraman from filming the 22-year-old murder suspect, warning close-up footage of him could prejudice the remainder of the hearing.
\u201cDuring the remainder of this hearing, the camera shall not photograph Mr. Robinson at all,\u201d Graf ruled.
\u201cThat will be the sanction of this court. I will allow the pool camera operator to reposition the camera to adhere to that.\u201d
The decision came after Robinson\u2019s attorneys brought up their concerns with Graf, arguing the videographer zoomed in on their client, capturing their conversation, ABC 4 reported.
Robinson\u2019s counsel showed the judge two clips of previous footage they said violated court rules.
The drama unfolded during the hearing in which Robinson\u2019s defense attorneys were working to boot Utah County prosecutors from the high-profile case over an alleged conflict of interest.
\u201cThe Utah County Attorneys have advised us that a family member of one of the attorneys was present at the incident at which Mr. Kirk was shot and killed,\u201d defense attorney Richard Novak told Graf during an October hearing.
The defense team argued they were informed by prosecutors the relative \u2013 a student \u2014 \u201cwas within 85 feet\u201d of the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder when he was shot dead at Utah Valley University while speaking to a crowd of thousands as part of his American Comeback Tour on Sept. 10.
The team noted the relative was forced to \u201cflee\u201d the campus and \u201cthat the Utah County Attorney\u2019s Office was all advised of this; that law enforcement were actually deployed to the area with her safety and status in mind,\u201d Novak said.
There are six prosecutors on Robinson\u2019s case and the name of the prosecutor in question was redacted in court papers.
Graf has not yet ruled on the issue.
Robinson is facing seven felony charges of aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.
He remains behind bars pending trial and could face death by firing squad if convicted.
Utah is one of five states that still allow the unusual execution method of carrying out capital punishment.<\/p>\n