Legal Justice
Utah contracts with former federal defender chief to symbolize suspect in Charlie Kirk taking pictures dying
On this handout video display screen 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. (Picture by the Utah State Courts through Getty Images)
Utah County has employed a non-public lawyer with vital legal 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, below a contract with the county, report the Salt Lake Tribune, KSL, ABC News and Fox News.
Robinson might face the dying penalty if convicted of Kirk’s Sept. 10 taking pictures dying 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 at present a companion at Nester Lewis.
Nester has additionally represented Kouri Richins, a grief creator accused of killing her husband after which writing a youngsters’s e book about grief.
The whole price of the Robinson illustration is unknown, however the contract is anticipated to price $750,000 over the subsequent yr, Utah County spokesperson Richard Piatt advised the Salt Lake Tribune. The prosecutor’s workplace is anticipated to obtain about $600,000 for its elevated bills.
Commissioner Skyler Beltran advised the Salt Lake Tribune that commissioners don’t have a selection on funding the protection and prosecution.
“We’re going to approve over one million {dollars} right this moment in an expense for an occasion that we didn’t need,” he stated. “None of us needed [it] and it occurred to be right here, and our taxpayers will now foot the invoice. It’s very unlucky.”
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