The man charged with killing Charlie Kirk shouldn’t get the death penalty because the shooter “hit the intended target” and no one else was endangered when the conservative activist was shot from a rooftop at an event in Utah last year, his lawyers said.
Defendant Tyler Robinson’s attorneys say the bullet traveled above the crowd of several thousand people at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 and “there were no threats to others.” Whether the shooting endangered the crowd is a key issue: Prosecutors cited the risk that other people could have been harmed as an aggravating factor under state law that makes Kirk’s killing a capital crime.
“The only evidence presented supports that the bullet traveled above, not through, the crowd,” defense attorneys wrote in documents filed late Tuesday as the defense tries to block the case from proceeding to trial.
Prosecutors have said numerous people were within a “zone of danger” around Kirk, where a stray or ricocheting bullet could have hurt anyone close to the victim.
The defense lawyers also disputed claims that Robinson targeted Kirk over his political views. Prosecutors allege Robinson told his roommate that he killed the activist because he “had enough of his hatred.” But the defense said that was not enough to prove what motivated Robinson, after searches of his apartment, computers and telephone failed to produce anything beyond that one statement.