FBI agents reportedly delayed showing a photo of the Charlie Kirk assassination suspect to Director Kash Patel for 12 hours.
In a heated conference call early Thursday, Patel and his FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino called out subordinates for waiting nearly 12 hours to show them the photos — and said they would have released them immediately had they been aware they were available, according to people who spoke to the New York Times.
An official attending the meeting told the Times that Patel criticized the agency’s “Mickey Mouse operations,” saying it was one of the few times in the call that he wasn’t cursing.
The assassination of Kirk is one of the prominent cases in the U.S. in which President Trump is pushing for the death penalty.
During an interview Friday on Fox News, Trump revealed that a suspect in the killing of Kirk was in police custody and called for the execution again.
Later, that person was identified as Tyler Robinson. He was arrested after a 33-hour manhunt stopped when his father convinced him to turn himself in. Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University by the 22-year-old, who is now being charged with aggravated murder.
His case brings up a big legal question: will Robinson get life in prison if he is found guilty, or could the prosecution ask for the death penalty?
Prosecutors said that more charges, such as weapons violations and obstruction, could be added as the case goes on.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox said on Sunday that the accused gunman is not cooperating with authorities, but added that “all the people around him were cooperating, and I think that’s very important.”
Robinson is due in court on Tuesday, but there are already many calls for the death sentence to be used.
But this takes a long time, and people in this country who are on death row usually have to wait more than ten years before they can be put to death. On top of that, there are times when courts reverse persons’ death sentences.
Robinson’s lawyers are going to say that he did what he did on his own and wasn’t part of a planned terrorist group.
Any mental health problems Robinson had are another thing that could work against the death penalty. Utah is one of the 27 states in the US that still have the death sentence.
Authorities confirmed that Robinson is being placed under “special watch” until he has a mental health evaluation.
According to a statement from the department, Robinson will remain in the Utah County Sheriff’s Department’s special housing unit under “special watch” to allow officials to closely monitor his mental health. The sheriff’s department warned that the procedure could take a few days.
Robinson will keep going with the classification process to find out where he will stay when he is in jail after he is cleared.
The police said that the “special watch” status is given for several reasons, such as the type of crime the suspect is being held on, behavioral problems, violent behavior, or suicidal words made during the arrest.
The sheriff’s office said it hasn’t been made aware of any specific suicidal thoughts or words about Robinson.
Before Robinson’s father turned himself in, a law enforcement source told Fox News that he told the FBI that he recognized his son from surveillance video images that the FBI had shared during the manhunt.
The person told Fox News that Robinson told his father he was going to kill himself when he got there. Sources told Fox News Digital that the dad talked to a preacher whom the family knew before he turned in his son.
On Sunday morning, Utah Gov. Brian Cox told ABC News that Robinson was not working with police while he was in jail.
Cox added that those who know the 22-year-old say he was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”