A former assistant U.S. attorney says that Tyler Robinson\u2019s reason for allegedly killing TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk may be more crucial during the sentencing phase because prosecutors will try to \u201cdirty up\u201d the defendant in hopes that juries will give him the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Officials say Robinson killed Kirk at a TPUSA event on September 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He is being charged with aggravated murder, two counts of obstructing justice, criminal discharge of a handgun inflicting serious bodily injury, two charges of witness tampering, and committing a violent crime in front of a child.<\/p>\n
Authorities say Robinson is claimed to have killed Kirk because he \u201chad enough of his hatred\u201d and \u201csome hate can\u2019t be negotiated out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court papers show that Robinson sent his roommate, Lance Twiggs, a text message requesting him to \u201clook under my keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I\u2019m going to take it,\u201d read a note photographed by Robinson\u2019s roommate, according to authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou weren\u2019t the one who did it right????\u201d the roommate allegedly wrote to Robinson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Robinson said, according to the court documents.<\/p>\n
Neama Rahmani, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, told Fox News that prosecutors will use this evidence more during the punishment phase to try to get the jury to give Robinson the death penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Utah County prosecutor is going to try to put Robinson to death, and the motive for the killing is going to be something that is key evidence in the case. It\u2019s going to dirty up Robinson,\u201d Rahmani said.<\/p>\n
Rahmani added that Robinson will only get the death penalty if all 12 jurors agree that he should be killed for his claimed offenses. This makes it even more critical for prosecutors to explain clearly why they think he should be murdered.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the extent that the prosecution has to get 12 out of 12 jurors to return that death sentence. The motive for the crime will be an important reason why the prosecution may get there,\u201d Rahmani said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when jurors are weighing the death penalty, the reason why someone killed another human being, if it was for political reasons, that\u2019s certainly an aggravated factor,\u201d Rahmani added.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven one or two jurors could save Tyler Robinson\u2019s life. And just from a pure numbers perspective, there are some people that have a difficult time looking another human being in the eye and giving them lethal injection or the firing squad,\u201d Rahmani continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other possibility, of course, is they try to defend the case in the guilt phase. It\u2019s going to be very hard to defend, but they\u2019ll have to argue some sort of radicalization. It\u2019s going to dirty up Robinson. The jurors are not going to like him because not only is there no legal justification for what he did, but there\u2019s really no moral one whatsoever,\u201d Rahmani said.<\/p>\n
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