Court to Rule On Conflict-of-Interest Claims In Charlie Kirk Assassination Trial

Utah Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf will soon announce his ruling on whether to disqualify the prosecutors working on the Charlie Kirk assassination case. The judge will hold a WebEx hearing on February 23 at 10:30 a.m. local time to announce his decision.

The defense team for Tyler Robinson, has urged the court to dismiss the state prosecutors, citing a conflict of interest. Robinson’s attorneys argued that during the shooting of Kirk during a debate at a Utah college campus, one prosecutor’s daughter was in attendance in the audience.

The prosecutor in question is Deputy County Attorney Chad Grunander, whose 18-year-old daughter was present at the scene during the assassination. While the defense claimed that Grunander has a conflict of interest in the case, the attorney testified that his daughter did not actually witness the shooting as she was looking at the crowd.

According to Grunander, his daughter ran to safety after hearing the gunshot and did not even realize it was Kirk who had been shot. The defense also argued that the Utah County Attorney's Office be removed from the case because prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty for Robinson, 22, even before his arrest.

Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray confirmed this during his testimony earlier this month. The defense says the prosecution had ‘strong emotional reactions’ to the murder as they quickly announced their intent to seek capital punishment for the suspect.

According to Robinson’s lawyers, both factors could lead to an unfair trial for the accused. Gray testified that Grunander’s daughter’s presence at the scene in no way affected the investigation, and that their decision to seek the death penalty was not attributed to emotions, but to the nature of the crime.

If Judge Graf rules in favor of the defense and disqualifies the entire Utah County Attorney's Office, the case would be transferred to another county’s prosecutors or the state attorney general’s office.

Alternatively, the court can ask only Grunander to step down from the case, while keeping the rest of his team on it. In the third scenario, the judge can rule in favor of the prosecution and allow the whole team to remain on the case.

There is also contention between the prosecution and the defense over cameras in the courtroom. Robinson’s lawyers argued that media coverage would prevent a fair trial. But prosecutors and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, want the proceedings to be televised to ensure transparency.

Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was murdered with a gunshot during a campus debate at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. After a manhunt, Robinson surrendered to authorities. He has been charged with aggravated murder, and his trial is tentatively scheduled for May 2026. If the prosecution team is disqualified and replaced, the trial will likely be delayed.