A ghastly development in the Charlie Kirk affair

Utah asserts the confidentiality of death

In the public policy arena, governments are often measured by their transparency. Did an elected official disclose donations? Did an agency properly award a contract? What evidence was presented to the government for the approval of a pharmaceutical? That sort of thing. When we usually talk about government transparency, the intent is to eliminate corruption. We are seeing something wholly different and more ominous is the strange Charlie Kirk affair in Utah.

A bedrock assumption in the US - and probably most countries - is that the deaths of the residents/citizens are a public matter. When a death occurs, it is everyone’s business. If the death was not natural or accidental, the bedrock responsibility of the government is to find and punish those responsible for the death. In no respect is the death of a resident/citizen a secret. Equivalently, a government must disclose to the public everyone who is known to be deceased. One would think.

In the Charlie Kirk affair, the government of the United States - more specifically the State of Utah - has asserted confidentiality with respect to the life/death of Charlie Kirk. We are now officially in the Twilight Zone.

That ghastly development is evident in the Charlie Kirk affair. That is clear from a series of statements of the Public Information Office for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.¹

Yim:

Can you confirm that Charlie Kirk is deceased?

Public Information Office:

As explained in the previous statement, per the Utah Medical Examiner Act, we cannot confirm or comment on any cases that the OME has worked on (https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title26B/Chapter8/26B-8-S217.html?v=C26B-8-S217_2023050320230503).

Yim:

You imply that the Office of the Medical Examiner has "worked on" a case involving Charlie Kirk. Is that your intent?

Public Information Office:

Thank you for your inquiry. Please refer to the previous statements in this email chain. We have no further comment.

Yim:

In the charging document in The State of Utah vs. Tyler James Robinson, Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray states "The Medical Examiner's report is pending."

Is that statement true?

The Public Information Office has not responded as of this writing. Also - one clarification - per Utah statute (26B-8-205), any suspected homicide must be investigated by the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner.

We are now officially in the Twilight Zone - where our fundamental assumptions about how society works no longer apply - where the deaths of our fellow citizens/residents are not our business.

1. Full set of emails.