Judge to rule on trial for accused Charlie Kirk assassin in September

The five-day hearing for the 23-year-old charged with murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk concluded on Friday. Tyler Robinson faced aggravated murder charges for Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination that took place while Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University. To date, Robinson has not entered any plea. The preliminary hearing, nationally dubbed as a mini trial, aimed to establish whether prosecutors had reasonable grounds to prosecute the alleged assassin for the crime.

The hearing gave both sides a chance to air evidence and testimony and let State District Judge Tony Graf decide what evidence would stand in a possible future trial. Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn, along with his widow, Erika, attended the multiday hearing and received acknowledgement by Graf from the bench.

What kind of evidence was presented? Attorneys presented surveillance footage, bystander video, photos, maps, message screenshots, and various investigative reports to the court throughout the week. Attorneys also called several witnesses to the stand for testimony and cross-examination, including investigators and officials present at the shooting. Graf viewed surveillance footage that prosecutors said showed Robinson fleeing the scene and various angles of Kirk’s shooting.

One of the most notable pieces of evidence presented was a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs. Attorneys played the recording in court, where Twiggs described Robinson’s behavior before and after the shooting. Robinson tearfully told him that he regretted carrying out the crime the day after the shooting, Twiggs testified.

Robinson’s defense team also repeatedly questioned the validity of the DNA evidence collected from the rifle used in the assassination, and voiced doubt over the ballistic testing of the bullet recovered from Kirk’s body.

Will the evidence be made public? It remains unclear how much evidence will be released to the public. Evidence presented during the livestreamed hearing remained hidden from public view, observable only by Graf, attorneys, and witnesses being questioned. The Kirk family attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, petitioned Graf to let the Kirk family see the evidence, arguing the family had a right to view the evidence under state law. The judge declined the family’s request.

The court hit a snag on Thursday when a nonpublic piece of evidence, a letter allegedly written by Robinson to Twiggs, briefly appeared on camera. Graf chided media and prosecutors for the error on Friday, and barred media from broadcasting images presented by either party for the remainder of the day.

So what happens next? The hearing will resume on Sept. 1, when both sides are scheduled to present their final arguments on whether Robinson should be tried for the crime. Graf is then expected to determine whether prosecutors presented sufficient evidence for a trial to proceed.

Dig deeper: Listen to John Stonestreet’s report on The World and Everything in It about what Charlie Kirk’s assassination reveals about politics filling the void.