Legal Experts Analyze Tyler Robinson Court Case and Death Penalty Prospects in Utah Shooting

[00:00] Tyler Robinson was in uh or is in court

[00:04] um Tuesday and um let's hear let's go to

[00:08] ST four and hear what the Utah Governor

[00:10] Cox said.

[00:12] He has not confessed to um to

[00:14] authorities. He he is he is uh he is not

[00:17] cooperating. Uh but uh but but all the

[00:19] people around him are cooperating and I

[00:21] I think that's uh that's that's very

[00:23] important. Um, there were reports

[00:25] yesterday that that that uh that we can

[00:27] confirm that uh that his roommate was

[00:30] indeed a boyfriend uh who who is

[00:32] transitioning from uh from male to

[00:35] female. Uh that's that's information

[00:37] that the FBI had uh had mentioned

[00:39] yesterday. Uh we can confirm that as

[00:41] well and that that uh that he is

[00:44] cooperating with uh with authorities as

[00:46] well.

[00:49] >> Well, Mark Aragos, what do you make of

[00:51] that so far? Well, look, he's not

[00:54] cooperating. And I think what they're

[00:56] saying is is that his family cooperated.

[01:00] That's how they got to him in the first

[01:02] place. And obviously, the confirming of

[01:04] the transitioning roommate would be I

[01:07] know that that's kind of a hot button,

[01:10] so to speak. But remember, they have to

[01:12] go there as law enforcement because if

[01:15] you believe what's being reported, there

[01:17] are Slack messages there that appear to

[01:20] indicate that the roommate knew at least

[01:24] a location of of one of the weapon. If

[01:27] that's the case, they clearly law

[01:30] enforcement is going to run that down.

[01:32] Clearly, they're going to want to know

[01:33] how much they knew the roommate knew

[01:35] before, during, and after. And uh

[01:39] whether or not this young man is

[01:41] cooperating or not, it uh it appears

[01:44] that they've got um quite a case already

[01:48] just based on the family members

[01:51] statements and some of the pictures and

[01:53] other things. So this is quite an uphill

[01:55] battle for the person who's defending.

[01:58] >> J and we'll talk about who's defending

[02:00] in a minute. Um Johnny, you you've

[02:02] represented thousands of people at this

[02:04] point in your career. give people a

[02:07] little insight on what it's like dealing

[02:10] with the parents or the significant

[02:12] others of someone who clearly did a bad

[02:16] thing or a horrible thing um maybe took

[02:19] someone's life away in a DWI accident or

[02:23] all the kinds of crazy cases you handle.

[02:26] just give folks who are watching or

[02:27] listening what it's like for you and

[02:31] being in Mark when you're sitting there

[02:34] with the family and they're dealing with

[02:37] with what did my kid do or what did my

[02:40] husband do or what did my wife do.

[02:42] >> First, let me just get this off my

[02:43] chest. Tyler Robinson is a piece of

[02:46] [ __ ] Number one. Number two, I in my

[02:50] career, which is 32 years long at this

[02:53] point, there are two types of parents

[02:56] that I have.

[02:56] >> You started She started practicing law

[02:58] at 10, folks. Just

[02:59] >> I did. That's right. I was nine.

[03:01] >> So, there are two types of parents.

[03:04] More often than not, the parents that I

[03:06] have experienced

[03:09] are those that do not turn their child

[03:12] in. those who actually are, for lack of

[03:15] a better word, enablers. Those who will

[03:18] find excuses, those who will pull out

[03:20] every stop to make sure that uh little

[03:22] Susie cream cheese does not um get in a

[03:26] whole host of trouble, whether it's

[03:28] something big or small. I have not had

[03:32] the privilege as often to work with

[03:35] parents who are just the opposite. I

[03:37] mean, these parents turned this piece of

[03:40] [ __ ] in. And to that, I have to give

[03:42] them credit where credit is due. While I

[03:46] I think it's terrible that they did not

[03:48] see this happening, why they did not see

[03:51] this this this coming to a boil, why

[03:53] they didn't couldn't do anything to stop

[03:55] it. I mean, I'm I'm making a lot of

[03:56] supposition here, but I will give them

[03:58] credit for turning this person in. And

[04:00] can I just also little sidebar

[04:02] >> by the way, John, I was just going to

[04:04] say the one problem here to Arthur's

[04:06] question. If you're sitting with the

[04:08] family, the problem you would have as a

[04:11] defense lawyer, I'm not telling you two

[04:13] anything you don't know. You're not

[04:14] going to be sitting with the family.

[04:16] You're not going to be talking to them

[04:18] about this case. You have

[04:20] >> Yeah. The they're they're done. They're

[04:22] they are walled off from you in terms of

[04:25] anything discussing this case because

[04:28] there is the most enormous obvious

[04:30] conflict you will ever have.

[04:32] >> Absolutely. And that's another great

[04:34] point. And can I just ask that like I've

[04:36] represented some and and you guys even

[04:38] more than me have represented some

[04:41] hardened criminals, some unlikable

[04:44] people over the course of our career.

[04:47] This is a case I'm going to tell you

[04:49] right now that I would turn down faster

[04:53] than you could say don't. I would turn

[04:56] it down. I would not. No matter what I,

[04:59] you know, and look, his attorneys, he's

[05:00] going to have some and they're going to

[05:02] have a tough a tough job, but I would

[05:04] say absolutely not. What would you guys

[05:07] do?

[05:09] >> Um, I don't know. You know, I I I I

[05:12] don't have your reaction. Um, I've been,

[05:15] believe me, I've been in those

[05:17] situations and and for the most part,

[05:19] I've taken them I've taken it on the

[05:22] challenge and all of that. Look, my Oh,

[05:24] now I'm going to start pontificating.

[05:26] But my job, my role is to make sure

[05:28] everyone's playing by the rules. If this

[05:31] kid did it and there's DNA and there's

[05:33] DNA and there's this, if it was the DNA

[05:35] was recovered properly, if the search

[05:37] warrants were done properly, if

[05:38] everything was done the right way, no

[05:40] one's breaking any laws to get this guy

[05:43] because of who the victim is, then the

[05:46] the truth is you can only play with the

[05:49] hand that you're dealt. So if there's

[05:51] all of these things proving his guilt,

[05:53] you don't say, "Okay, kid, let's go to

[05:54] trial and you know, it'll be a long

[05:56] plea." Sometimes they make you do that

[05:59] or let's work out some kind of

[06:00] disposition like the the case we covered

[06:03] where the kid croninberg, you know, he

[06:05] just all right, let's just plead a life

[06:06] and you know, you'll live the rest of

[06:08] your life in prison. Um, but I don't

[06:10] know if I would be jumping. I'm not put

[06:11] it this way. I'm not putting any feelers

[06:13] out there uh to represent Tyler

[06:16] Robinson. Mark, I'd like to hear your

[06:17] answer to the question. You know, I saw

[06:19] I I became a fan during the um Ten

[06:23] Paxton impeachment of a lawyer down in

[06:26] Texas, Dan Cogwell, uh who's now

[06:29] somebody has got him doing Tik Toks and

[06:31] I uh apparently it's in my uh my feed

[06:35] and I watch them and he uh commented

[06:38] that he would absolutely represent and

[06:41] and and I have heard

[06:44] >> both that extreme and I remember rather

[06:48] fondly Scalia talking about, well, of

[06:51] course, criminal defense lawyers make

[06:52] choices. They make choices all the time

[06:55] on whether or not the client has money.

[06:57] And so the I mean, and I used to chuckle

[07:00] when I would hear the the late great

[07:03] Scalia say that. And I think in our

[07:07] system, I uh I will tell Janna because I

[07:11] know a lot of lawyers, criminal defense

[07:13] lawyers who have kind of verboten um red

[07:16] flag areas they won't defend. And I

[07:19] respect that and I get that because they

[07:22] feel so strongly. I feel strongly about

[07:25] the system. I think I tilt more towards

[07:28] the cogndale uh side that you need

[07:32] defense lawyers who are not going to

[07:34] play judge and jury who are going to

[07:36] zealously defend because otherwise

[07:39] prosecutors

[07:41] if you don't defend the worst of the

[07:44] worst and if you don't do it zealously

[07:47] then that's the to my mind I always

[07:49] laugh when people talk about tyranny or

[07:52] fascism or things like that I always say

[07:54] it starts in the criminal justice

[07:56] system. If you have people who are to to

[07:59] uh quote the Brandon Sullivan, the

[08:02] potted plants or window dressing or

[08:04] whatever you want to call it, um who's

[08:06] just there to kind of go through the

[08:08] motions, um or as I say to jurors, we're

[08:11] going to take him, we're going to give

[08:12] him a fair trial, then take them out

[08:13] back and shoot him. I I I don't go I

[08:17] don't subscribe to that. I think you

[08:18] need people who are going to defend the

[08:20] worst of the worst and do it zealously.

[08:23] >> I agree. You need people who will defend

[08:25] the worst of the worst. And

[08:27] >> J says it's not going to be her

[08:28] >> and it's just not going to be it's not

[08:30] going to be our 32year-old Janna.

[08:32] >> No, it's not going to be me. In this

[08:34] particular case, I don't nothing really

[08:36] is off limits. This case though, I would

[08:38] be doing this [ __ ] a disservice cuz I

[08:42] just in my soul there's not enough money

[08:44] in the world that would allow me to do

[08:46] my job the way I normally would do my

[08:48] job. I would say no.

[08:50] >> I'm going to make it even tougher for

[08:51] you. What if the court called you up and

[08:53] appointed you and said we can't

[08:54] >> which is what is ju just to fill people

[08:56] in because I was going to bring that up

[08:58] because my people in my office here who

[09:00] aren't lawyers said you know who's going

[09:02] to represent him I said the court is

[09:03] going to call look I'll tell you the

[09:04] truth it happened to my dad I don't know

[09:06] 20 some odd years ago when 1993 the

[09:09] first words world trade center bombing

[09:11] and they caught the guys and the chief

[09:13] judge called my dad and said look Luke

[09:16] and he complimented me he goes I want to

[09:18] make sure there's no reversal here and

[09:20] you know after these guys are convicted

[09:22] and I know you'll cross every tea and

[09:24] dot every dot eye and I want you to to

[09:26] remen my dad had to stand there and

[09:28] represent a guy who blew up or tried to

[09:30] topple the World Trade Center in 1993

[09:32] and he did it zealously and with all his

[09:34] heart and this guy got sentenced to 280

[09:36] years I think it was in prison but um it

[09:39] does

[09:41] >> it's amazing our parallel lives I I

[09:44] remember in high school my father

[09:47] getting appointed on a guy on a a serial

[09:50] killer And my my mother being just

[09:53] literally appalled in high school and my

[09:55] friends being appalled and he did it

[09:57] because he was courtappointed and it's

[10:00] you know they they back that generation

[10:03] believed that in their heart and soul.

[10:05] >> Yeah. I'll just before we move on I was

[10:08] running for city council at the time in

[10:10] New York and my dad didn't think it was

[10:12] a good idea to let me know he was doing

[10:14] the opening statement. That was all over

[10:16] the place. So I'm ringing the bell going

[10:19] Arthur Idol. I'm running.

[10:22] Are you related to that [ __ ] who's in

[10:25] court right now? Representative, what

[10:27] are you talking about? I have no idea

[10:28] what you're talking about. Oh, that

[10:29] that's not what happened. Well, to to

[10:31] put a little bow on all of this,

[10:34] Robinson is uh going to face the death

[10:36] penalty in Utah. The the prosecutor has

[10:39] determined that he caused a grave risk

[10:42] to those around when he shot Charlie

[10:45] Kirk. And that is one of the

[10:47] requirements to get uh the um to get the

[10:51] death penalty. You know, he only fired

[10:53] one shot.