Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Charlie Kirk Killer Fails to Ban Cameras from Court | Crime Alert 05.12.26

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Charlie Kirk Killer Fails to Ban Cameras from Court | Crime Alert 05.12.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime al Art hourly update Breaking Crime News Now, I'm
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  Speaker 1: Sidney SILVNNI.
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  Speaker 2: On Friday, a Utah judge issued a.
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  Speaker 3: Pivotal ruling regarding the trial of Tyler Robinson, a man
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  Speaker 3: accused of assassinating conservative firebrand Charlie kirk Back in September.
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  Speaker 3: Despite intense pushback from the defense, Judge Graf has ruled
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  Speaker 3: that news outlets will be permitted to film, photograph, and
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  Speaker 3: livestream the proceedings. This decision comes after weeks of legal
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  Speaker 3: sparring over where the line is drawn between the public's
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  Speaker 3: right to know and a defendant's right to a fair,
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  Speaker 3: unbiased trial. In his decision, Judge Graff acknowledged the defense's concerns,
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  Speaker 3: but ultimately found that the legal threshold for a total
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  Speaker 3: media blackout simply hadn't been met.
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  Speaker 1: Defendant seeks in order categorically prohibiting any electronic media coverage
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  Speaker 1: during the pendency of this case. Because defendant has not
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  Speaker 1: shown that a categorical ban on electronic media coverage for
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  Speaker 1: all proceedings in this case is allowed by Utah law,
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  Speaker 1: defendants motion is respectfully denied. Although electronic media coverage is
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  Speaker 1: not protected by the Constitution, neither does the Constitution ban
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  Speaker 1: electronic media simply because there is a danger that, in
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  Speaker 1: some cases, prejudicial broadcast accounts of pre trial and trial
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  Speaker 1: events may impair the ability of jurors to decide the
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  Speaker 1: issue of guilt or innocence uninfluenced by extraneous matter.
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  Speaker 3: Robinson's legal team had argued passionately for a closed door atmosphere,
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  Speaker 3: claiming that their client cannot receive a fair shake if
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  Speaker 3: cameras are present. They pointed specifically to the online court
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  Speaker 3: of public opinion, where stories and comments often depict Robinson
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  Speaker 3: as evil or unremorseful based on brief glimpses of his
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  Speaker 3: courtroom demeanor. In death penalty cases like this one, the
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  Speaker 3: stakes are uniquely high because a jury can eventually consider
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  Speaker 3: a defendant's character when deciding whether to impose the old sanction.
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  Speaker 3: Defense attorneys are hyper vigilant about bad publicity. They cited
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  Speaker 3: a December hearing where footage of Robinson apparently smirking while
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  Speaker 3: speaking to his lawyers led to a firestorm on Fox News,
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  Speaker 3: with pundits claiming he treated the victim like a trophy. However,
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  Speaker 3: they aren't just fighting the media, prosecutors and the victim's
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  Speaker 3: family are also pushing for maximum transparency. Charlie Kirk's widow,
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  Speaker 3: Erica Kirk, has been vocal about the need for the
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  Speaker 3: public to see the evidence for themselves, arguing that secrecy
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  Speaker 3: only fuels the conspiracy theories that have swirled since the
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  Speaker 3: September tenth assassination.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen to Kirk on Jesse Waters.
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  Speaker 4: There were cameras all over my husband when he was murdered.
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  Speaker 4: There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning.
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  Speaker 4: There have been cameras all over me, analyzing my every move,
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  Speaker 4: analyzing my every smile, my every tear. We deserve to
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  Speaker 4: have cameras in there. Why not be transparent. There's nothing
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  Speaker 4: to hide. I know there's not, because I've seen what
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  Speaker 4: the case is built on.
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  Speaker 2: Accounting or not courting Dame whys.
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  Speaker 4: Oh my god.
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  Speaker 3: Robinson is accused of lying in wait on a rooftop
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  Speaker 3: about three hundred yards from Kirk's Prove Me Wrong booth
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  Speaker 3: at Utah Valley University campus and firing a single shot
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  Speaker 3: that struck Kirk in the neck on September tenth. Robinson
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  Speaker 3: allegedly admitted to what he had done in text to
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  Speaker 3: his partner in the minutes after the shooting, remaining in
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  Speaker 3: the area in hopes of retrieving his grandfather's mouser ninety eight.
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  Speaker 3: With the release of more surveillance footage from campus, family
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  Speaker 3: members eventually recognized Robinson and convinced the twenty two year
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  Speaker 3: old to turn himself in.
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  Speaker 5: On the evening of September eleventh, a family member of
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  Speaker 5: Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted
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  Speaker 5: the Washington County Sheriff's office with information that Robinson had
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  Speaker 5: confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.
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  Speaker 3: While Judge Graff is allowing the cameras, it won't be
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  Speaker 3: a free for all, he has already tightened the leash
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  Speaker 3: on media pools following previous violations, where outlets broadcast images
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  Speaker 3: of Robinson's shackles and tight close ups of privileged conversations
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  Speaker 3: between the defendant and his council. To balance these interests,
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  Speaker 3: the judge has ordered cameras to remain at the rear
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  Speaker 3: of the courtroom behind the defendant, making it significantly harder
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  Speaker 3: for the public to scrutinize Robinson's facial expressions. Robinson's preliminary
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  Speaker 3: hearing has been moved back to July sixth through July tenth,
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  Speaker 3: and for now the world will be watching more crime
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  Speaker 3: and justice news after this. In Kentucky, illegal saga, nearly
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  Speaker 3: seven years in the making, is finally heading toward a
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  Speaker 3: court room. Ryan Todd Crawley is now scheduled to stand
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  Speaker 3: trial in May twenty twenty seven for the twenty nineteen
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  Speaker 3: kidnapping and murder of April Arnett.
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  Speaker 2: This case is as gru some as it is prolonged.
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  Speaker 3: According to court documents, Arnette, a mother of three known
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  Speaker 3: for her infectious smile, was allegedly killed in Scott County
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  Speaker 3: in August twenty nineteen. Prosecutors claimed Crawley wrapped her body
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  Speaker 3: and hid it under his trailer before attempting a botched disposal.
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  Speaker 3: The details of that disposal are chilling. Authorities alleged Crawley
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  Speaker 3: and his son, Ronald Crawley, drove to the Old Clay's
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  Speaker 3: Ferry Bridge in Madison County with Arnette's body wrapped in
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  Speaker 3: a tarp and weighed down with cinderblocks.
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  Speaker 2: They allegedly attempted to heave.
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  Speaker 3: Her into the water, but the tart became snagged on
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  Speaker 3: a guy wire panicked. The men allegedly hauled the body
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  Speaker 3: back into their vehicle and dumped it on the side
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  Speaker 3: of Highway twenty three, twenty eight, where it was discovered
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  Speaker 3: four days after her death. While Crawley had already pleaded
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  Speaker 3: guilty to tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse,
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  Speaker 3: he is maintaining his innocence regarding the murder and kidnapping charges.
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  Speaker 3: His defense team is already signaling their strategy, questioning why
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  Speaker 3: it took the state nearly seven years to bring these
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  Speaker 3: top tier charges forward. Crawley, who fled to Oregon following
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  Speaker 3: the incident, is among four others charged in connection with
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  Speaker 3: the kidnapping. For the latest crime and justice breaking news,
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  Speaker 3: be sure to tune in tomorrow on your favorite podcast
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  Speaker 3: app with this crime alert. I'm Sydney Silvanni.