Alleged Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson adds former Menendez brother lawyer to legal team
PROVO, Utah — A Utah court has finalized the legal team behind suspected Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson, adding two seasoned California defense attorneys to back his Utah lawyer, Kathy Nester.
They are Michael Burt, of San Francisco, and Richard Novak, of Pasadena, who were both granted permission by the court to appear on Robinson’s behalf at his latest hearing Monday.
“In a case like this, many lawyers will shy away from the defense due to the notoriety,” said Mark Geragos, one of the country’s leading defense attorneys. “That is actually the exact wrong instinct and contrary to your duty as a lawyer, which is to zealously defend and not be dissuaded by those things.”
One of those attorneys, Burt, has almost five decades of experience as a criminal defense lawyer.
He defended Joseph “Lyle” Menendez during the Menendez brothers’ first trial in 1993, before Geragos joined their legal team. It ended in a mistrial. They were convicted at their second trial, but scored major victories earlier this year when a Los Angeles judge reduced their sentences, putting the possibility of parole on the table for the first time — in large part due to Geragos, who is still working their case.
While he never worked with them, he said he has known of both of Robinson’s new attorneys for years.
Burt has 47 years of trial experience, according to court documents, all of which came as a defense lawyer. He has tried more than fifty cases, including death penalty cases in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, according to a declaration he filed with Utah’s Fourth District Court over the weekend. And he’s been designated a federal “learned counsel,” a special qualification for defense lawyers who work on capital cases in federal court.
Novak has been practicing law since 1990, with a focus on criminal defense for the past 20 years, according to his own declaration. He’s worked more than two dozen capital cases in federal court and in the state of California and is also a learned counsel.
Nester is one of Utah’s leading defense lawyers and worked for the Obama administration on an advisory board for convicts seeking clemency.
Her major clients include Lyle Jeffs, a leader of an offshoot sect of Mormonism who pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and money laundering after fleeing from house arrest while awaiting trial.
During Monday’s hearing for Robinson, in which he attended remotely and off-camera, she echoed some of her concerns about discovery from the Richins case, which she said in court had a “universe” worth of evidence that had “become outrageous” with more than 11 terabytes of data, KPCW-TV reported. She requested a 30-day delay in Robinson’s waiver hearing so she could begin going through the discovery that prosecutors are expected to hand over this week.
All three of Robinson’s lawyers also have extensive experience in federal court — and the Justice Department has not yet ruled out whether it will bring its own case against Robinson.
The 22-year-old electrician apprentice is accused of fatally shooting Kirk as he spoke on campus at Utah Valley University.
The state-level charges against him include aggravated murder, which carries the potential death penalty, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction and witness tampering.
He allegedly confessed or “implied” guilt to his parents, his romantic partner and friends, according to court documents. Investigators also allege they recovered his DNA from the suspected murder weapon, a Mauser .30-06 with a custom stock and modern optics — distinctive enough that his father allegedly asked him for the rifle’s whereabouts after police had it in their possession.
Authorities have said they believe he acted alone and only discussed the plot with other people after allegedly carrying it out.