Erika Kirk Invokes Rare Utah Victim's Rights Law to Speed Trial of Husband Charlie Kirk's Accused Killer

[00:00] Erica Kirk, the wife of slain

[00:01] conservative commentator Charlie Kirk,

[00:03] is reportedly invoking a rare Utah law

[00:06] that could speed along the trial of

[00:07] Tyler Robinson, her husband's accused

[00:10] killer. Now, this is an interesting case

[00:13] because Utah code apparently allows for

[00:16] this. Usually, it's the defendant who

[00:18] has the right and the ability to a fair

[00:20] trial. Obviously, that still stands

[00:22] under the Constitution. But I'm going to

[00:23] read a quote here and then I want to get

[00:25] reaction from Trey Phillips. This is a

[00:27] quote in a legal document from Jeffrey

[00:29] Neman. He's an attorney for Erica Kirk.

[00:31] He wrote in part, "The Utah code affords

[00:34] victims of a crime the right to a speedy

[00:36] disposition of the charges free from

[00:38] unwarranted delay caused by or at the

[00:40] behest of the defendant." Now, Trey,

[00:43] this is interesting because Utah is one

[00:44] of the few states that has this victim's

[00:47] rights protection. What was your

[00:49] reaction to seeing that Erica Kirk had

[00:51] invoked this?

[00:52] >> Well, I mean, it's not surprising,

[00:54] right? and that Utah has this law, as

[00:56] you said, why would she not seek to

[00:58] invoke it? Especially when, of course, I

[01:01] mean, her husband was horrifically

[01:03] assassinated in front of the entire

[01:05] country. So, it's trauma whether it's a

[01:09] well-known person or not. But then when

[01:10] it becomes somebody as high-profile as

[01:13] Charlie Kirk, the trauma of having to

[01:15] kind of relive this day in and day out

[01:17] as she's awaiting a trial for the

[01:20] prosecution of her husband's alleged

[01:22] assassin, that has to be just

[01:25] unfathomable. Not to mention the

[01:28] conspiracy theories, right, that we've

[01:29] covered here at CBN News that are being

[01:31] lobbed at Erica Kirk, at TPUSA, at all

[01:35] kinds of different people right now. So,

[01:37] I think it's just adding insult to

[01:38] injury. So, it's not a surprise that

[01:41] Erica is going to want to pull any lever

[01:43] she possibly can to get this case to

[01:45] move along. And look, this is something

[01:47] that Americans want an answer to, Billy.

[01:49] Right. I mean, we don't want to continue

[01:51] waiting. This is one of the most

[01:53] horrific incidents. I'm 33. I had to

[01:55] think about it for a second, but this is

[01:57] one of the most horrific incidents

[01:58] that's happened in my lifetime, and I

[02:01] don't want to wait. So, I can't imagine

[02:03] the the place that Erica Kirk is in,

[02:07] knowing that it was, of course, her

[02:09] husband who was slain in front of all of

[02:11] us.

[02:12] >> You know, it is really interesting to

[02:13] think that obviously we want to live in

[02:15] a country where you're innocent until

[02:16] proven guilty. And constitutionally, we

[02:18] have the ability to a fair trial. When

[02:19] you're a defendant in a case and you're

[02:21] being accused of something like this,

[02:24] you want to have that fairness, but we

[02:26] often don't think, and I've dealt with a

[02:27] lot, and I know you have too, over the

[02:29] years, of people who are victims, right?

[02:32] Erica Kirk and her family, you mentioned

[02:33] the conspiracy theories. I'll come back

[02:35] to that in a minute. But the fact that

[02:36] you have a victim who has had to watch

[02:39] this crime happen on an international

[02:42] stage who has to endure this that these

[02:45] victims are put through the ringer and

[02:46] if there's a perception that a defendant

[02:49] is trying to delay their case in in not

[02:51] a timely resolution, they're trying to

[02:54] delay the court proceedings that that

[02:55] that person should also have a right to

[02:58] a to a speedy trial as a victim. That

[03:00] they don't have to endure this for years

[03:02] and years and years. And so whether or

[03:04] not this applies here, I've seen some

[03:06] commentary about this on Fox News and

[03:08] other places. Whether or not this

[03:10] applies, some have said it's an astute

[03:12] move because it shows that hey, people

[03:14] are watching, right? Even if even if

[03:16] this doesn't really work, invoking this.

[03:19] But I think the point is nobody should

[03:20] be forced as a victim to be dragged

[03:22] through the mud. And to your point, when

[03:25] you talk about those conspiracy

[03:26] theories, I think people need to see the

[03:28] evidence so that some of this can just

[03:30] end. the chaos, the consternation, the

[03:33] pressure around this case that has been

[03:35] so horrific, so unfair on so many levels

[03:38] to watch that adds another layer to this

[03:40] that that a speedy trial will actually

[03:43] help hopefully at least for some people

[03:45] or the majority alleviate. Well, and I

[03:48] think too the the sooner we get answers

[03:50] the better for any number of reasons,

[03:52] but one of them, one of I think probably

[03:54] one of the most pressing reasons, Billy,

[03:56] is the longer this fers and and stays at

[04:01] a high boiling point, the greater chance

[04:04] there is of another incident, right? I'm

[04:07] not saying another assassination, but

[04:09] more violence, protesting, people

[04:11] getting angry online, and that turning

[04:13] into some form of actual violence. And I

[04:16] think that's something that that has to

[04:18] be considered. So, as you said, whether

[04:20] this is something legally, this lever

[04:22] that she's pulled, if it legally works

[04:24] or not, we don't know. But hopefully, it

[04:26] will at least put some pressure on uh

[04:29] the Utah justice system. And one other

[04:31] interesting thing that I want to make a

[04:33] note of because it's not something I

[04:35] don't live in Utah. It's not something

[04:36] that I would have really known had had

[04:39] we not been looking into this story. But

[04:41] Judge Tony Graph, he's the judge

[04:43] presiding over Tyler Robinson's

[04:46] prosecution.

[04:48] He has 1,200 cases that he alone is

[04:52] presiding over in this 2026 calendar

[04:55] year, which is incredible. It's 16%

[04:58] higher than the average rate. And

[05:00] overall, the state of Utah in in in its

[05:03] entirety is trying 11,000 cases this

[05:07] year. So, their system is certainly

[05:09] strained and stretched, but you would

[05:11] think, to your point, a case like this,

[05:13] the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the

[05:16] alleged assassins prosecution. You would

[05:18] think that that would kind of be at the

[05:20] top of the list of cases that need to be

[05:22] tried.

[05:23] >> Yeah. Well, I think the country

[05:26] certainly needs to move forward and a

[05:28] lot of commentators need to be maybe,

[05:30] you know, given the information they

[05:32] need to ease some of the claims that

[05:33] they're making. And so, we'll see where

[05:34] this goes next. But one thing just to

[05:36] close out on because I think this is

[05:38] important that we're praying for the

[05:39] Kirk family as they deal with this that

[05:41] we're praying for Erica, her children.

[05:43] Um this has been a really horrific few

[05:45] months and you know this is not going to

[05:47] be easy to go through this trial no

[05:48] matter how speedy it is. But again

[05:50] that's a reason to move it along so that

[05:52] it's not dragged out. So let's all be in

[05:54] prayer for that