A judge ruled on Feb. 24 that a Utah deputy attorney general could continue prosecuting the man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk.

Defense attorneys for Tyler Robinson, the accused shooter, had asked the judge in January to disqualify that member of the prosecution team—along with his entire office—after it was revealed that his daughter had been in the crowd when Kirk was killed.

State District Judge Tony Graf said there was no “significant risk” that Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander’s relationship to his daughter would interfere with his ability to handle the case properly.

Defense attorneys had argued in court that his close relationship to someone present at the shooting made him unfit to prosecute Robinson, and that he might influence other members of his team.

They also said Utah County Attorney General Jeffrey Gray’s rapid decision to seek the death penalty in the case was evidence of “strong emotional reactions” that should disqualify him too.

“Prosecutors need not be immune to the emotional response of others to prosecute a case,” Graf said.

Gray previously testified in court that he was considering the death penalty even before Robinson had been arrested, and that Grunander’s daughter played no part in that choice.

The young woman—whose name has been kept out of the media—did not see the shooting, but texted “CHARLIE GOT SHOT” to a family group chat.

The prosecution said in a court filing in Utah’s Fourth Judicial District Court for Utah County that she did not have “any lasting trauma from the event.”

“In fact, nearly everything [she] knows about the actual homicide is hearsay,” the filing said, adding that any testimony she gave would consist of “generic, uncontested details available from literally thousands of other witnesses.”

Gray previously argued in court that the request was meant to delay the trial.

“This is [an] ambush and another stalling tactic,” Gray said.

Kirk, a popular conservative commentator, was killed last September while speaking at the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah. Robinson, 22, faces aggravated murder charges related to the shooting.

Footage from the day of the shooting appears to show Robinson, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, climbing onto a building where the shooting is believed to have originated. He turned himself in after consultation with family members.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.