Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Transcripts From The Hearing Dealing With Tyler Robinson’s Courtroom Appearance (Part 3) (7/29/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
- 0:03Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to pick up with the transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: from the Tyler Robinson hearing about his court attire. Mister Ballard,
- 0:13Speaker 1: your honor Christopher Ballard on behalf of the state. There's
- 0:17Speaker 1: nothing improper about what the state did about the state
- 0:20Speaker 1: and the sheriff filing a joint response to the motion,
- 0:23Speaker 1: when the court ordered the sheriff to respond, when the
- 0:26Speaker 1: motion implicates court security, which is the joint responsibility of
- 0:29Speaker 1: the sheriff and the court, and when the state's interests
- 0:33Speaker 1: and the sheriff's interest are aligned. And let me just
- 0:36Speaker 1: make it clear at the outset, the state is not
- 0:38Speaker 1: trying to sneak in the sheriff's participation. The state is
- 0:41Speaker 1: not trying to make the sheriff a party or be
- 0:44Speaker 1: able to offer his input, the sheriff's office input on
- 0:48Speaker 1: anything that is not directly related to the sheriff's responsibilities.
- 0:51Speaker 1: In this case, the state was simply trying to comply
- 0:54Speaker 1: with this court's orders, the first of which ordered the
- 0:57Speaker 1: sheriff to respond and then also order the state to respond,
- 1:01Speaker 1: and both of those orders require the defendant to serve
- 1:04Speaker 1: his motion on the sheriff, and so I don't think
- 1:07Speaker 1: you can fault the state for doing its best to
- 1:09Speaker 1: just try and comply with the court's orders. I think
- 1:13Speaker 1: even if there were something improper about the way the
- 1:15Speaker 1: state did this procedurally, I think the information, the rules,
- 1:19Speaker 1: the authority that we've cited in our opposition to the
- 1:22Speaker 1: motion to strike explained that the sheriff does have standing,
- 1:25Speaker 1: or persons can have standing as limited purpose parties, not
- 1:29Speaker 1: a broad purpose party or a main party in the case,
- 1:32Speaker 1: that's not what we're trying to do. The sheriff, for
- 1:35Speaker 1: anyone in a case, can have limited purpose standing when
- 1:38Speaker 1: you've got a rule or a statute that allows that
- 1:40Speaker 1: person to either claim or right or to offer input.
- 1:44Speaker 1: And as opposing counsel pointed out, this comes up most
- 1:47Speaker 1: often in situations of crime victims. But it's not just
- 1:50Speaker 1: limited to crime victims. As we cited in State JT.
- 1:55Speaker 1: That was the case that you've got. It's a child
- 1:58Speaker 1: welfare proceeding. You've got to statute that says that relatives
- 2:01Speaker 1: can give input as to the placement in those kinds
- 2:04Speaker 1: of cases. And so the grandmother had limited purpose party
- 2:07Speaker 1: standing to be able to give her input here, we've
- 2:10Speaker 1: got authority that allows the sheriff to give input on
- 2:13Speaker 1: these kinds of decisions, and that's all we're we're trying
- 2:16Speaker 1: to do in accordance with what the court requested. If
- 2:19Speaker 1: the Court has further questions about limited purpose standing and
- 2:22Speaker 1: the reasons for that, mister van Ney can address that
- 2:25Speaker 1: on behalf of the sheriff. But that's the state's position.
- 2:29Speaker 1: Unless you have further questions for me the court, well,
- 2:32Speaker 1: perhaps the court can give a little bit of clarification.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Because there were two orders, and what happened was on
- 2:38Speaker 1: that day it was a holiday, the court came in
- 2:41Speaker 1: and was reviewing the order and it wasn't the official
- 2:43Speaker 1: order because it was trying to be sent out as
- 2:46Speaker 1: a courtesy given the time constraints. The court then issued
- 2:50Speaker 1: the order the second day with the removal of requiring
- 2:52Speaker 1: the sheriff's response, and so for clarification purposes, that's what happened.
- 2:58Speaker 1: The first one was simply occurred copy just to be like,
- 3:01Speaker 1: all right, we have these tight deadlines and wanted to
- 3:04Speaker 1: put all parties on notice to give them opportunity to
- 3:07Speaker 1: prepare given the holiday. But the second order was the
- 3:10Speaker 1: actual order that was entered in the first was not so,
- 3:14Speaker 1: for whatever clarification that gives to all parties, that's what happened.
- 3:17Speaker 1: But I understand the confusion with that in regards to
- 3:21Speaker 1: the position of Miss Nestor that the evidence should come
- 3:24Speaker 1: in as witness testimony as opposed to as it was
- 3:27Speaker 1: brought in today. What's your position, mister Ballard, as long
- 3:31Speaker 1: as your honor fully considers the information that's in that response,
- 3:35Speaker 1: whether it's just as a witness or a limited purpose party,
- 3:38Speaker 1: we just want the information before the court because the
- 3:40Speaker 1: sheriff is the expert on court security, the court and
- 3:45Speaker 1: moving forward. That's your position on adopting what has been
- 3:48Speaker 1: proposed by Miss Nestor for a future input as opposed
- 3:52Speaker 1: to filing a motion going the route of calling witnesses
- 3:54Speaker 1: and then based off witness testimony or Affid David's using
- 3:58Speaker 1: that to supplement a motion post witness testimony. Ballard, I
- 4:03Speaker 1: think that's fine as long as it gives your honor
- 4:05Speaker 1: the information that he needs to be able to be
- 4:07Speaker 1: able to make the decisions about security issues the court.
- 4:11Speaker 1: All right, thank you, mister Ballard. Mister Ballard, you're welcome
- 4:14Speaker 1: the court. Yes, And if you'd like to give a
- 4:16Speaker 1: little bit more background on the limited purpose standing of
- 4:19Speaker 1: the parties. Mister van Ney, who is the lawyer for
- 4:22Speaker 1: the Sheriff's office, absolutely Ben van Ney County Attorney's Office.
- 4:28Speaker 1: The sheriff's office wants to make it clear that they're
- 4:30Speaker 1: not entering an appearance in the case and they do
- 4:33Speaker 1: not intend to ever enter an appearance in the case.
- 4:36Speaker 1: The sheriff's position is that they would be okay if
- 4:39Speaker 1: the state's opposition was entered in or if there was
- 4:42Speaker 1: an order entered in finding that this is an opposition
- 4:46Speaker 1: from the state. Like mister Ballard just expressed, there was
- 4:49Speaker 1: some confusion with the two orders. The sheriff's office, being
- 4:53Speaker 1: a non party, didn't have the benefit of not knowing
- 4:55Speaker 1: that the first order wasn't entered. We didn't get the
- 4:58Speaker 1: notice until it was too late, So I mean, quite simply,
- 5:01Speaker 1: the sheriff's office was just trying to respond to the
- 5:04Speaker 1: court's orders, which wasn't unusual because the sheriff's office gets
- 5:08Speaker 1: ordered by the judges all the time to do various things,
- 5:11Speaker 1: orders to transport, orders to allow inmates to have access
- 5:14Speaker 1: to the law library. Stuff that's part of the criminal case.
- 5:19Speaker 1: But not. It is more tangently related, which that's another
- 5:24Speaker 1: reason why the sheriff decided it was proper to respond.
- 5:27Speaker 1: The sheriff's office is a unique participant in criminal cases.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Both statute and rule obligate the sheriff to have input
- 5:34Speaker 1: in security measures and the defendant's motion that directly implicates those,
- 5:39Speaker 1: and the sheriff, to be clear, is less concerned about
- 5:42Speaker 1: how the objections are made. They just want to make
- 5:44Speaker 1: sure that they have a seat at the table because
- 5:46Speaker 1: they are. They want to ensure that the safety and
- 5:49Speaker 1: security of this court is paramount. So whatever the court
- 5:52Speaker 1: needs to do to clarify that, the sheriff would be
- 5:54Speaker 1: okay with that, whether that's treating them as a witness
- 5:57Speaker 1: their statements as with the statements, be okay with that.
- 6:01Speaker 1: I think that's all I have from the sheriff. I
- 6:03Speaker 1: would submit, unless your Honor has any questions the court no,
- 6:07Speaker 1: thank you, mister Nestor. Would you like to respond, mister Nestor,
- 6:11Speaker 1: just briefly, your Honor as far as a limited party appearance,
- 6:14Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like we're getting close to agreeing
- 6:17Speaker 1: to how this should happen in the future, which I
- 6:20Speaker 1: appreciate that but just to make it very clear for
- 6:23Speaker 1: the record that we do not think there is sufficient
- 6:26Speaker 1: statutory or administrative authority that would open the door to
- 6:30Speaker 1: a limited appearance such as there would be for a
- 6:32Speaker 1: grandparent in a custody hearing or for a victim in
- 6:35Speaker 1: a restitution hearing. We just don't think that exists here.
- 6:39Speaker 1: And we don't see the judicial regulations that are referred
- 6:42Speaker 1: to in their opposition that provides that a bailiff, you know,
- 6:46Speaker 1: that sheriffs be present and keep us safe in the courtroom.
- 6:49Speaker 1: We don't think that opens the door to a limited
- 6:51Speaker 1: party appearance of the nature of which was argued in
- 6:54Speaker 1: the opposition. But I think that might be moot. But
- 6:57Speaker 1: I just wanted to say that for the record, your honor,
- 7:00Speaker 1: the Court, thank you, all right, anything further on this
- 7:02Speaker 1: motion to strike, mister van Ney, your honor, one more thing,
- 7:05Speaker 1: if I may, the Court, yes, mister van Ney. The
- 7:09Speaker 1: scenario at hand has the sheriff's office in county's attorney's
- 7:12Speaker 1: office agreeing. Hypothetically, if the county attorney agrees with the defendant,
- 7:17Speaker 1: but the sheriff disagrees, we don't know what mechanism we
- 7:20Speaker 1: could use to lodge that objection. Utah Code seventeen Dash
- 7:24Speaker 1: twenty two Dashed twenty one c requires the sheriff to
- 7:27Speaker 1: obey all lawful orders. In rare circumstances, there are orders
- 7:32Speaker 1: issued by the bench that the sheriff's office deems unlawful.
- 7:36Speaker 1: In those circumstances, the sheriff's office has filed objections not
- 7:40Speaker 1: as parties, but as an interested party. That is unclear
- 7:43Speaker 1: in state law how the sheriff's office is supposed to
- 7:46Speaker 1: address the situation if an order is unlawful, How does
- 7:50Speaker 1: the sheriff's office voice that opinion. That's all I have,
- 7:53Speaker 1: Thank you the court. Can you give me an example
- 7:56Speaker 1: of what has happened in the past that helps the
- 7:58Speaker 1: court understand, mister van no Oh, Yes, absolutely. Just a
- 8:01Speaker 1: few months ago, in a probate case, the mental health
- 8:04Speaker 1: of the beneficiary was at stake was being questioned. The
- 8:07Speaker 1: court ordered the sheriff's office to transport this individual to
- 8:11Speaker 1: a mental health facility for a mental health evaluation in
- 8:14Speaker 1: Salt Lake City. In being a probate a civil case,
- 8:18Speaker 1: the sheriff's office objected because that, in their opinion, was
- 8:21Speaker 1: not a lawful order. There's no statute or rule that
- 8:24Speaker 1: allowed the court to include the sheriff to transport an
- 8:27Speaker 1: individual in a civil case. That matter was never fully
- 8:30Speaker 1: ruled upon, but it was an objection that the Sheriff's
- 8:33Speaker 1: office made as an interested party in that case. The court,
- 8:37Speaker 1: all right, thank you, mister van Ney. Yep, Miss Nestor,
- 8:42Speaker 1: under that scenario, what in your view would be the
- 8:44Speaker 1: proper approach if there is a divergence of opinions from
- 8:47Speaker 1: the Utah County Attorney's Office and the Utah County Sheriff's office,
- 8:53Speaker 1: how would the Sheriff's office be heard on the issue?
- 8:56Speaker 1: Miss Nestor, can you give me one second to ask
- 8:58Speaker 1: someone smarter than myself? Let me ask mister Visser or
- 9:01Speaker 1: miss Vistor really quick. I knew she would know your honor,
- 9:04Speaker 1: thank you, and I think she's right. So under that scenario,
- 9:08Speaker 1: when the sheriff has been ordered to do something by
- 9:10Speaker 1: the court that does potentially open the door, I would
- 9:13Speaker 1: say to responding to that order. And you know, I
- 9:16Speaker 1: have no idea what type of similar situation would arise
- 9:18Speaker 1: in this case, but I would hope that we could
- 9:21Speaker 1: all maybe just talk about it and see the proper
- 9:24Speaker 1: way to handle it. We don't ever want to concede
- 9:26Speaker 1: that the proper way to handle it would be to
- 9:29Speaker 1: enter an appearance as a party. I do think that
- 9:31Speaker 1: there's ways for non parties to object to orders they
- 9:34Speaker 1: get from judges, but and we can probably figure that
- 9:38Speaker 1: out later. But I honestly can't think of the scenario
- 9:41Speaker 1: where that would happen in a case like this. It's
- 9:43Speaker 1: never ever happened to me, and I've been doing this
- 9:46Speaker 1: quite a while, but I guess there's always the possibility
- 9:49Speaker 1: if it happens, we'll all confer and see if we
- 9:51Speaker 1: can figure that out. The court, all right, And I
- 9:55Speaker 1: just want to make sure anything else further on this
- 9:58Speaker 1: particular issue, mister Ballard, mister Ballard, Yeah, your honor, just
- 10:02Speaker 1: let me add I think for the purpose of this motion,
- 10:05Speaker 1: it sounds like we're all in agreement that the Court
- 10:07Speaker 1: can just consider this however it wants to consider it,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and making it clear that it's not the sheriff entering
- 10:12Speaker 1: an appearance or appearing as a party. If there's some
- 10:15Speaker 1: issue down the road and we've got an order that
- 10:17Speaker 1: requires the sheriff to do something, then that would be
- 10:20Speaker 1: a completely different situation. Then we've got right here. The
- 10:24Speaker 1: Court all right, all right, thank you all parties. I
- 10:27Speaker 1: will reserve ruling on that issue about the motion to
- 10:30Speaker 1: strike until Monday, but for the purpose of this hearing
- 10:32Speaker 1: today and it sounds like their's best can be stated.
- 10:36Speaker 1: The stipulation that the motion filed not acknowledging from defense
- 10:40Speaker 1: side that the Sheriff's office is a party, but it's
- 10:42Speaker 1: still accepting the information they're in to be considered as
- 10:45Speaker 1: we move forward on the other issues. Miss Nestor, yes,
- 10:49Speaker 1: the court, all right, so with that, we'll go ahead
- 10:52Speaker 1: and move forward with the issues of appearances and restraints.
- 10:55Speaker 1: All right, everybody, We're going to wrap up right here,
- 10:57Speaker 1: and in the next episode we're going to pick up
- 10:59Speaker 1: where we left off. All the information that goes with
- 11:02Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.