Why The Feds Can’t Trust Utah To Achieve The Death Penalty For Charlie Kirk’s Murderer:
As President Trump vows a full federal investigation, Attorney General Pam Bondi needs to file federal charges that carry the death penalty.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk cries out for the death penalty, which is rarely imposed by Utah courts. This murder was premeditated and executed with vengeance, against an innocent victim, merely for exercising his constitutional freedom of speech.
This crime struck at the heart of our republic and has made countless Americans who believe the same things Kirk did feel like they too have targets on their backs. Like the anarchist assassin who shot President William McKinley on Sept. 6, 1901, and was executed on Oct. 29 after receiving full due process, Kirk’s assassin must swiftly face the death penalty.
Before the suspected Kirk assassin was arrested, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox pointed out that Utah still has the death penalty. Utah law, however, makes it nearly impossible to apply. Utah has executed only one person (an American Indian) in the last 15 years, and there are only four criminals on Utah’s death row, each of whom has been supported there at taxpayer expense for more than 29 years.
A murderer cannot be punished by the death penalty in Utah state courts unless there is an aggravating factor as narrowly defined by Utah law, such as killing a police officer or shooting in a way that creates a “great risk” to bystanders in a crowd. Kirk’s assassin allegedly fired one shot from a high-precision rifle at Kirk while he was seated on stage, so it is unclear if Utah’s death penalty even applies to this crime — though there’s a solid argument that the crowd was endangered enough to reach Utah’s legal threshold.
In addition, Utah has a pro-transgender culture, contrary to every other Republican state. In 2023, with Gov. Cox’s signature, Utah codified a pro-transgender administrative rule that had first been promulgated in 2020, making it one of the only Republican states with a law that prevents parents from seeking professional counseling to treat gender dysphoria in their children. In 2022, Gov. Cox also vetoed legislation that would have protecting girls’ sports from the participation of male athletes.
The suspect, Tyler Robinson, was living with his transgender partner, whom Gov. Cox praised as being “incredibly cooperative” with investigators. Robinson reportedly had a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate.
Bullet casings found with the murder weapon contained markings demonstrating that this assassination was carefully planned and carried out with vengeance. These inscriptions included “Hey, fascist! Catch!” along with references from online communities, including an apparent reference to the sexually deviant furry subculture.
Afterward Robinson reportedly sent electronic messages to his transgender lover about the murder. Robinson also exchanged messages with more than 20 people via the online platform Discord soon after the assassination, apparently without anyone rebuking him or telling him to turn himself in to authorities. --->READ MORE HERE
Utah’s firing squad law explained as Tyler Robinson’s potential fate revealed:
Utah is one of just five states that still allows the execution of criminals by firing squad — and if its last such killing in 2010 is any indication, Tyler Robinson could end up with a little paper white target over his heart and shot by five law-enforcement volunteers with rifles.
Unbeknownst to the executioners, one would fire a dummy bullet so they wouldn’t know exactly who killed Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin.
Utah is one of five states with the unusual execution method on its books, which it most recently used 15 years ago on convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner.
The Beehive State is also one of only two states to put a convict to death by firing squad since the end of the nationwide moratorium in 1977. The other, South Carolina, executed convicted double murderer Brad Sigmon by the method in March.
However, the legal process now facing Robinson, 22, has some way to go before that point, as Utah does not regularly sentence prisoners to death — and those who are may spend decades on death row.
In August, Ralph Leroy Menzies was spared execution by firing squad by the state’s Supreme Court after his defense attorneys argued he had dementia.
Menzies, 67, was set to be executed on Sept. 5 for the 1986 abduction and killing of Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker.
When he was first sentenced to death, Menzies requested a firing squad, but last year, his lawyers launched a new push to free their client, arguing that his 37 years on death row have seen him reduced to using a wheelchair, dependent on oxygen and unable to say why he is being executed.
In 2004, lawmakers in Utah stopped offering inmates the choice of firing squad, saying they attracted intense media interest and took attention away from victims.
But in 2015, then-Utah Gov. Gary Herbert gave his approval to a law bringing back firing squads as a backup if costly lethal injection drugs aren’t available. --->READ MORE HERE
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