JUST IN: Charlie Kirk’s Suspected Assassin Could Face Firing Squad If Convicted

The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination has only been in custody for about 12 hours, but already, authorities are exploring the many ways that the state of Utah may carry out the death penalty if he is convicted.

Tyler Robinson, a college student, turned himself in after confessing to his father, a former police officer who alerted authorities to take custody of his son around 11 p.m. local time on Thursday night. Robinson was questioned overnight, and on Friday, his identity and mugshot were made public.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has indicated he will be supportive if prosecutors choose to seek the death penalty. President Donald Trump has likewise called for the death penalty for Robinson.

Capital punishments are almost always meticulous and carefully executed, requiring exhaustive appeals that can last for decades. Both state and federal prosecutors can seek convictions, including the death penalty, without violating the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause.

Utah is one of 27 states that have the death penalty, according to NBC News, and offers both lethal injection and firing squads. In the latter, a line of gunmen fire simultaneously at the convict, but only one fires a live round in order to give all participants plausible deniability about who killed them.

The state has executed just eight people since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1972.

KUTV reported just last week that “Utah’s death row is dwindling,” with the four men there “having spent decades waiting for executions that may never come.”

State lawmakers recently considered eliminating the punishment but ultimately opted against doing so. Utah’s aggravated murder crime requires the defendant to be found guilty of creating “a great risk of death” to others besides themselves and the victim, NBC News reported.

Federal prosecutors most recently chose to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old arrested for the murder of a healthcare CEO last year in Manhattan. New York does not carry the death penalty, but federal prosecutors announced their intention to seek capital punishment, arguing Mangione “created a grave risk of death to one or more persons in addition to the victim” and “committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation.”

Much still needs to be parsed before a conviction can be secured. Although Robinson has been identified, authorities have not officially stated that he is in custody as a suspect.

Elements of the killing will also need to be considered, including the apparent murder of Kirk from a rooftop about 200 yards away from where he was speaking. Premeditation and planning are both elements typically required to secure the most serious homicide convictions.