As the trial of Tyler Robinson—the alleged killer of conservative activist and Donald Trump ally Charlie Kirk—continues, criminal lawyers have warned that the defence fees—taken from Utah taxpayers' money—may go "north of $10 million".
Kirk was killed by a single gunshot wound to the neck while speaking at the Utah Valley University on September 10.
Although Utah County approved $1 million in initial funding for Tyler Robinson's case defence, criminal defence lawyers told Fox News Digital that the costs will go higher, primarily because Robinson was facing a potential death penalty.
Neama Rahmani, a criminal defence attorney, predicted that the defence costs would be upwards of $500,000.
"We're talking about seven or even eight figures ... But if Tyler Robinson is sentenced to death, and he has to go through the mandatory Utah state and federal appeals, we're talking about millions of dollars, potentially even north of $10 million," she pointed out.
According to Greg Skordas, a Utah-based criminal defence attorney, this was because Robinson's defence lawyers would have to be "death qualified" as per Rule 8 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure (URCP).
"In order to be court-appointed on a death penalty case, you have to accomplish certain things. In other words, you've done so many criminal cases. You've gone to trial on murder cases. You've taken classes in death penalty representation," he said.
Skordas added that there was a contract that spoke of defence costs, but placed no limit on it.
This comes after Skye Lazaro, another Utah-based criminal defence attorney, recently pointed out that if the prosecution's timeline did not make sense logically, it could be their biggest flaw.
"There's just so much we don't know yet as this case develops," she added.