By David Thomas
(Reuters) -The Utah criminal defense attorney appointed to represent Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin previously represented a once-fugitive leader of a polygamous sect and was a top public defender in Salt Lake City and San Diego.
Kathryn Nester, of the Salt Lake City-based law firm Nester Lewis, was appointed to represent Tyler Robinson, the Utah County Commission said in a press release on Wednesday.
The state is seeking the death penalty for Robinson, who was charged with one count
of aggravated murder after he allegedly shot Kirk, 31, in the neck during a campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10.
Nester declined to comment.
Nester previously led the federal public defender's office in the District of Utah and served as the executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. She represented Lyle Jeffs, a former leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an unacknowledged offshoot of the Mormon Church, according to federal court records.
Jeffs in 2016 escaped home confinement while awaiting trial on food stamp fraud. He later pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and failure to appear and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
Nester also represented John Earnest, who faced death-penalty-eligible charges after he opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in suburban San Diego in 2019, killing one person. Nester and the Federal Defenders of San Diego withdrew as Earnest's defense counsel in 2020 due to a conflict. Earnest later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
She also represented Michael Kirk Moore, a Utah doctor accused of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination certificates and destroying more than $28,000 worth of government-provided COVID-19 vaccines, according to federal court records. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi dropped the case against him in July.
Nester's partner at the firm, Wendy Lewis, was one of the Utah federal public defenders who represented Brian David Mitchell, the homeless street preacher convicted of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart. Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison in May 2011.
Nester is also currently representing Kouri Richins, who wrote a children's book about grief and is now facing criminal charges for allegedly poisoning her husband, according to press reports.
A spokesperson for the Utah County Commission said the county is expecting Robinson's defense to cost at least $750,000, and it is planning to spend more than $1.3 million on Robinson's prosecution and defense, the Deseret News reported Wednesday. The spokesperson did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
Robinson is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
(Reporting by David Thomas; Additional reporting by Sara Merken; Editing by Leslie Adler)
