Today state prosecutors in Utah County, Utah, charged Tyler Robinson with "aggravated murder" under Utah law, making him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. The prosecutors also announced that they will seek the death penalty. Under Utah law, a murder becomes aggravated, and thus, death eligible, if prosecutors can prove a specific aggravating circumstance connected with the murder. Here, acting under Utah's capital murder statute (Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-202) prosecutors have alleged the aggravating circumstance that Kirk's murderer "knowingly created a great risk of death to another individual other than Charlie Kirk and the defendant." In my view the prosecutors have strong case that Kirk's murder fits within that aggravating circumstance, and thus that Robinson (if proven guilty) is eligible for the death penalty.
My purpose in writing this post is to set out the specific Utah law relevant to Robinson's prosecution for a capital crime. As a criminal law professor at Utah's public law school, I teach these subjects regularly. This post addresses only Utah state law, not federal charges that may be applicable. Similarly, this post attempts to describe existing Utah law, not the desirability of seeking the death penalty in the Kirk case nor, more broadly, the desirability of the death penalty in general.
The factual circumstances surrounding Kirk's assassination are generally well known. I won't recount them all here. But it is important to dispel some misconceptions about Utah's death penalty statute.
