Judge in Kirk Assassination Case Denies Defense Motion on Prosecutor

A Utah judge on Tuesday denied a motion from the defense of the accused killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to disqualify a prosecutor in the case.  

District Court Judge Tony Graf held a hearing earlier this month regarding a motion by defendant Tyler Robinson’s lawyers to disqualify Chad Grunander, a deputy state prosecutor in the case. 

The defense argued Grunander’s 18-year-old daughter was present when Kirk was shot and killed last September on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. 

Robinson’s attorneys contend this caused a conflict of interest and influenced two decisions, one to seek the death penalty, the other to not call Grunander’s daughter as a witness. 

The judge on Tuesday gave a lengthy explanation why he was rejecting the motion. 

“In the cases defendants cites the prosecutor’s split between their loyalty to the government, and their loyalty to the defendant, or a personal interest separate from the case being prosecuted,” Graf said. 

He went on to reference past cases of prosecutors recusing from cases in which they had a personal interest in the outcome or a personal relationship with the family of the defendant. 

He said this example did not rise to that common standard.   

“Each of these cases involved a personal interest directly connected to the defendant, or some other interest that materially limited the prosecutor’s representation of the state,” the judge said. “By contrast, the record here contains no evidence Mr. Grunander, or any member of his family, had a personal relationship with, bias toward, defendant.”

He continued: “The court has independently reviewed the evidentiary record with particular attention to whether any direct or indirect decision making in this case reflects personal involvement, inconsistent with the objective prosecutorial judgment.”