Legal Justice
Utah contracts with former federal defender chief to symbolize suspect in Charlie Kirk taking pictures loss of life
On this handout video display seize offered by the Utah State Courts, Tyler James Robinson attends a digital courtroom 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 Photos)
Utah County has employed a non-public lawyer with vital prison protection expertise to symbolize the person accused of fatally taking pictures conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
The lawyer, former federal public defender Kathryn N. Nester, will symbolize Tyler James Robinson, 22, underneath a contract with the county, report the Salt Lake Tribune, KSL, ABC Information and Fox Information.
Robinson may face the loss of life penalty if convicted of Kirk’s Sept. 10 taking pictures loss of life at Utah Valley College.
Nester was beforehand the chief 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 presently a accomplice at Nester Lewis.
Nester has additionally represented Kouri Richins, a grief writer accused of killing her husband after which writing a kids’s ebook about grief.
The entire value of the Robinson illustration is unknown, however the contract is predicted to value $750,000 over the subsequent 12 months, Utah County spokesperson Richard Piatt advised the Salt Lake Tribune. The prosecutor’s workplace is predicted to obtain about $600,000 for its elevated bills.
Commissioner Skyler Beltran advised the Salt Lake Tribune that commissioners don’t have a alternative on funding the protection and prosecution.
“We’re going to approve over 1,000,000 {dollars} at present 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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