Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Tyler Robinson Tells The Court That There Is Not Enough Evidence To Proceed To Trial (Part 4) (8/15/26)

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Tyler Robinson Tells The Court That There Is Not Enough Evidence To Proceed To Trial (Part 4) (8/15/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: this episode, we're diving right back in to Tyler Robinson's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: response to the state attempting to bind them over two
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: presence alone is insufficient as a matter of law to
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  Speaker 1: show KGRD. Even assuming arguendo that the shooter had knowledge
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  Speaker 1: that there were other individuals near mister Kirk, this fact
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  Speaker 1: alone does not satisfy that there was great risk of
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  Speaker 1: death to another. The state relies on cases from Pennsylvania
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  Speaker 1: for the assertion that his own a danger encompasses everyone
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  Speaker 1: near a shooting victim. As noted above, Utah has never
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: adopted a formulation of KGRD under which a single gunshot
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  Speaker 1: fired at a specifically identified target who is near others
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  Speaker 1: is sufficient to establish KGRD. Moreover, the case is cided
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  Speaker 1: by the state from Pennsylvania again do not support its position,
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  Speaker 1: as explained below. In Commonwealth vers. Rios, Pennsylvania, nineteen ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: three assailants entered a home to commit a robbery. The
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  Speaker 1: residence was occupied by four individuals. Two of the individuals
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  Speaker 1: were beaten and multiple firearms were involved. All four of
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  Speaker 1: the individuals were forced to lay down either on a
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  Speaker 1: bed or on a floor in a single bedroom, and
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  Speaker 1: one of them was shot and killed. The court found
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  Speaker 1: that the facts presented at trial supported the KGRD finding
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  Speaker 1: because the fatal bullet was fired while the victim lay
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  Speaker 1: on the floor of an enclosed bedroom, with one individual
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  Speaker 1: on the floor close to the victim and the others
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  Speaker 1: on the bed nearby. In Commonwealth versus Lie Pennsylvania ninety one,
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  Speaker 1: the court upheld the finding of grave risk when three
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  Speaker 1: assailants with multiple firearms shot one individual in the head
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  Speaker 1: inside the kitchen of a restaurant while the murder victim's
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  Speaker 1: sister was standing directly next to her. In Commonwealth for Smith,
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  Speaker 1: a Commonwealth presented medical and forensic evidence to demonstrate grave
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  Speaker 1: risk of death to another person. The evidence demonstrated that
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  Speaker 1: four shots were fired by the defendant. The first shot
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: fired hit the victim, who fell but then tried to
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  Speaker 1: get up. Thereafter, the defendant fired three more shots at
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  Speaker 1: the victim. Three of the rounds lodged in the victim,
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  Speaker 1: while a fourth passed through. One of the bullets fired
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  Speaker 1: at the victim ricocheted off a solid surface before hitting
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  Speaker 1: the victim. There were several people on the porch in
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  Speaker 1: very close proximity to the murder victim. The Pennsylvania Supreme
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  Speaker 1: Court affirmed the finding by the jerry on these facts
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  Speaker 1: in Commonwealth Verse Right, Pennsylvania, two thousand and eight. The
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  Speaker 1: evidence supporting grave risk was that Right broke into a
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  Speaker 1: small bedroom while swinging his loaded gun in all directions,
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  Speaker 1: then put his gun to the victim's wife's head. Once
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  Speaker 1: finding the victim, Right fired five shots at him, three
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  Speaker 1: of which went through him and one of which was
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  Speaker 1: never located. The victim was only a few feet from
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  Speaker 1: the bed on which the child was laying, and shellcasings
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  Speaker 1: were found all over the bedroom. The Pennsylvania Court determined
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  Speaker 1: that under these circumstances, it was proper to leave the
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  Speaker 1: grave risk of danger determination to the jury. The significant
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  Speaker 1: factual differences between these cases and the case before this
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  Speaker 1: court are played. The bullet that struck and kill mister
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  Speaker 1: Kirk was not fired in an enclosed bedroom or space,
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  Speaker 1: but rather an open air arena with what the state's
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  Speaker 1: witnesses termed a clear line of sight. There were no
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  Speaker 1: threats to others in the course of conduct. There was
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  Speaker 1: no one directly next to mister Kirk when he was shot,
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  Speaker 1: and there was no one under the tent on the
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  Speaker 1: side that mister Kirk was struck or behind him in
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  Speaker 1: the breezeway. Multiple shots were not fired, there were no
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  Speaker 1: ricocheting bullets. These cases from a state with a moratorium
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  Speaker 1: on its own death penalty are not Utah law and
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  Speaker 1: do not support the state's call for this Court to
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  Speaker 1: adopt out of state authority that vastly expands Utah's KGRD
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  Speaker 1: aggravator beyond its constitutionally narrow application. As explained in Sosa Hurtado, Too,
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  Speaker 1: Johnson and Pierre, Utah law require viires this Court to
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  Speaker 1: look at more than mere presence and to determine there
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  Speaker 1: is a high probability, not a mere possibility, that another
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  Speaker 1: would be killed by the shooter's conduct, and that the
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  Speaker 1: shooter knew of that high probability. A plenary of jurisdiction
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  Speaker 1: support Utah's narrow construction of KGRD. Many other jurisdictions have
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  Speaker 1: interpreted KGRD as The Utah Supreme Court has a multi
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  Speaker 1: factor analysis that examines the course of conduct of the
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  Speaker 1: defendant and actions towards another in determining both the defendant's
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  Speaker 1: knowledge and the probability of risk. For example, Oklahoma has
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  Speaker 1: determined that evidence is sufficient to support KGRD where the
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  Speaker 1: defendant created a great risk of death in close proximity
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  Speaker 1: in terms of time, location, and intent to killing or
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  Speaker 1: threaten the life of another, and had a parentability and
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  Speaker 1: means of taking that person's life. In the rare instance
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  Speaker 1: where a person's at risk was not actually injured, the
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  Speaker 1: defendant in those cases serious considered killing people other than
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  Speaker 1: the actual victim. Baldezv. State, Oklahoma, nineteen ninety five. In
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  Speaker 1: the Oklahoma case of Little John vers. State, the court
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  Speaker 1: considered the sufficiency of the evidence supporting KGRD. The court
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  Speaker 1: found the evidence was insufficient to support KGRD. Aggravating factor
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  Speaker 1: where the prosecution presented no evidence that defendant considered injuring
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  Speaker 1: anyone other than the actual victim. Although defendant pointed a
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  Speaker 1: gun at the clerk when he asked for the store's money,
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  Speaker 1: this act was driven by defendant's intent to rob. Additionally,
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  Speaker 1: only a single shot was fired and it hit its
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  Speaker 1: intended victim rather than endangering anyone else present in the store.
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  Speaker 1: As summarized, this is not a case where the defendant
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  Speaker 1: shot wildly into a store or a crowd. Only one
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  Speaker 1: shot was fired. This shot hit its intended victim. The
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  Speaker 1: single shot did not endanger anyone else present in the store. Consequently,
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  Speaker 1: under the specific circumstances of this case, we find the
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  Speaker 1: evidence was insufficient to prove Little John knowingly created a
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  Speaker 1: great risk of death to more than one person. See
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  Speaker 1: also breaching first Reynolds ten Circuit nineteen ninety four rejecting
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  Speaker 1: Eighth Amendment vagueness challenges to KGRD. Because reviewing Oklahoma case law,
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma courts provided consistent guidance to the jury so as
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  Speaker 1: to limit its discretion. The Wyoming Supreme Court upheld KGRD
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  Speaker 1: and Enberg versus State nineteen eighty four, concluding, in shooting
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  Speaker 1: arrantly at persons in park vehicles in the lot, Engberg
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  Speaker 1: manifested and uttered disregard for lives of innocent persons. This
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  Speaker 1: evidence demonstrated beyond the reasonable doubt that Angberg knowingly created
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  Speaker 1: a great risk of death to two or more persons. Later,
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  Speaker 1: olsenverse State, two thousand and three, Wyoming addressed another bystander case.
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  Speaker 1: The Olsen Court noted the state failed to produce evidence
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  Speaker 1: or suggest that there were other bystand involved who were
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  Speaker 1: threatened with grave harm. As Olsen shot his intended victims,
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  Speaker 1: thus strictly construing the Wyoming Statute. The Olsen Court found
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  Speaker 1: the use of the terms risk and person was given
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  Speaker 1: its proper application in Engberg's factual situation of placing bystanders
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  Speaker 1: in a parking lot at great risk of death by
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  Speaker 1: aaron shooting. In the Alabama case of White verse State
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, the appellate court upheld the finding of KGRD,
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  Speaker 1: where the defendant indiscriminately fired a shotgun into an occupied
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  Speaker 1: dwelling containing not only the victim but to other people,
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  Speaker 1: and the defendant fired the pistol out in the front
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  Speaker 1: yard in a residential neighborhood where many other people were present.
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  Speaker 1: The court found the defendant's conduct and the indiscriminate firing
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  Speaker 1: of these weapons did, in fact create a great risk
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  Speaker 1: of death to many other people. Finally, there is an
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  Speaker 1: almost identical federal statutory aggravator ce US Code eighteen, Section
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  Speaker 1: thirty five ninety Z two C five defendant, in the
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  Speaker 1: commission of the offense or an escaping apprehension for the
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  Speaker 1: violation of the offense, knowingly created a grave risk of
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  Speaker 1: death to one or more persons. In addition, to the
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  Speaker 1: victim of the offense. United States versus McVeigh, Colorado, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety six, the Oklahoma City bombing case, the District Court
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  Speaker 1: found the inclusion of KGRD in the indictment was proper
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  Speaker 1: where the government intended to prove that the truck bomb
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  Speaker 1: was such a force as to create a risk to
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  Speaker 1: persons who are not physically affected by the explosion. Similarly,
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  Speaker 1: in US versus bin Laden Stny two thousand and one,
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  Speaker 1: another bombing case, the District Court sanctioned the inclusion of
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  Speaker 1: KGRD as an aggravator, noting that KGRD relates to defendants
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  Speaker 1: mental state with respect to persons who were not the
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  Speaker 1: intended victim of the bombings. The Binladen Court noted there
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  Speaker 1: may be a qualitative difference between a defendant who carefully
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  Speaker 1: targets an intended victim or victims without endangering others, and
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  Speaker 1: one who acts with indifference to additional persons. These examples
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  Speaker 1: are non exhaustive, but illustrate how other jurisdictions have interpreted
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  Speaker 1: KGRD consistently with the Utah Supreme Court. These jurisdictions all
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  Speaker 1: require a close examination of the defendant's course of conduct
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  Speaker 1: and the mental state of the defendant relative to the
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  Speaker 1: other individuals Part two. Count six must be stricken because
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  Speaker 1: the evidence is not established that mister Robinson's statement to
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  Speaker 1: mister Twiggs to ask for a lawyer and stay silent
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  Speaker 1: was intended to obstruct an investigation. Count six charges mister
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  Speaker 1: Robinson with the tampering with witness in violation of Utah
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  Speaker 1: Code Section seventy six Dash eight Dash five O eight.
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  Speaker 1: The information alleges that mister Robinson committed this offense by
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  Speaker 1: directing his roommate to stay silent if police question the
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  Speaker 1: roommate information at three. The state alleges that by telling
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  Speaker 1: mister Twiggs to exercise his right under the Fifth Amendment
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  Speaker 1: to the United States Constitution to ask for counsel and
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  Speaker 1: remain silent, mister Robinson attempted to induce or otherwise causes
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  Speaker 1: roommate to withhold testimony or information with the intent to
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  Speaker 1: prevent an official proceeding or investigation. Count six must be
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  Speaker 1: stricken because mister Robinson's advice to mister Twiggs is consistent
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  Speaker 1: with the long standing constitutional principle that every person in
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  Speaker 1: the country has the right to remain silent in the
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  Speaker 1: face of government interrogation, and because the context in which
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  Speaker 1: the allegedly improper statement was made demonstrates that it's purely
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  Speaker 1: altruistic and for mister twigs benefit rather than for the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of obstructing the investigation. Where the inducer's motive in
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  Speaker 1: advising another to remain silent is to impede the investigation
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  Speaker 1: against him rather than to give purely altruistic advice, he
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  Speaker 1: is obstructing justice United States versus Peterson second circuit to
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  Speaker 1: the four The inverse is therefore true. Where the advice
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  Speaker 1: is purely altruistic, one is not obstructing justice. Mister Robinson's
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  Speaker 1: advice to mister Twiggs was as follows, if any police
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  Speaker 1: ask you questions, ask for a lawyer and stay silent.
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  Speaker 1: My lawyer should be Doug Terry. I'll see if he
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  Speaker 1: can reach out to you and make sure that the
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  Speaker 1: police follow the right procedures, proper warrants and stuff, but
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  Speaker 1: be polite and respectful. Of course, whether an individual who
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  Speaker 1: is under investigation is obstructing that investigation or providing truly
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  Speaker 1: altruistic advice to another requires a context specific analysis. Here,
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  Speaker 1: the conversation between mister Twiggs and mister Robinson demonstrates that
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  Speaker 1: mister Robinson's focus was on protecting mister Twiggs from any
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  Speaker 1: fallout from the events which I transpired, and not on
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  Speaker 1: inducing him to obstruct an investigation. He says to mister Twiggs,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to turn myself in willingly. One of the
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  Speaker 1: neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff. We hope
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  Speaker 1: to keep things sort of quiet here. I only hope
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: they let you visit. I'm gonna miss you too. Please
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  Speaker 1: be good for me. If you need anything at all,
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  Speaker 1: Both of my parents are willing to help you. Please
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  Speaker 1: go to them. Leave the room alone. The Feds will
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: search it top to bottom for certain then work with
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  Speaker 1: my family to sort it out. That goes where and such.
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  Speaker 1: In response to mister Twiggs question, is there any way
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  Speaker 1: you don't go to prison, mister Robinson responded, I highly
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  Speaker 1: doubt it. I'll update you as much as I can.
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  Speaker 1: If you need a place to stay, I'm sure my
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  Speaker 1: family would have you in my old room. You are
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  Speaker 1: all I worry about. Love. Don't talk to any media.
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  Speaker 1: Please don't take any interviews or make any comments. I
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  Speaker 1: will always love you too. I will write to you
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  Speaker 1: as often as possible. If any police ask you questions,
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  Speaker 1: ask for a lawyer, and stay silent. Make sure the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: police follow the right procedures, proper warrants and stuff. Be
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: polite and respectful. Of course, these statements by mister Robinson
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  Speaker 1: contextualize his altruistic advice to mister Twiggs to exercise his
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  Speaker 1: under the Fifth Amendment to ask for a lawyer and
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  Speaker 1: stay silent. The facts do not support the state's allegation
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  Speaker 1: that this statement by mister Robinson was made with an
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  Speaker 1: intent to prevent an official proceeding or investigation. Count six
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  Speaker 1: must be stricken. All right, folks, We're going to wrap
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  Speaker 1: up right here and to the next episode dealing with
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the topic. We're going to pick up where we left off.
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  Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: found in the description box.