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PROVO, UT – Charlie Kirk’s suspected murderer Tyler Robinson arrived again in courtroom Friday for a hearing on his protection workforce’s movement to exclude news cameras, and he nonetheless hasn’t entered a plea greater than seven months after a taking pictures in entrance of a crowd of hundreds at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Robinson arrived on the courthouse in an armored automobile with a police escort shortly earlier than 9 a.m. native time Friday. Fox News Digital noticed 14-armed SWAT members arriving, together with snipers on the roofs across the courthouse.
Robinson, with shackles on his wrist, was seen smiling and speaking along with his lead legal professional, Kathryn “Kathy” Nester. Robinson’s dad and mom have been additionally in courtroom Friday, wanting tense.
A central side of the hearing is predicted to incorporate arguments weighing the general public’s First Amendment proper to have entry to the proceedings and the 22-year-old defendant’s constitutional rights to a fair trial.
TYLER ROBINSON JUDGE UNSEALS ATF REPORT IN ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK
Erika Kirk, Charlie’s 37-year-old widow and the designated sufferer’s consultant, has requested the courtroom to safeguard meaningful media access because the case performs out. Two teams of native and nationwide media retailers, one in all which incorporates Fox News, have additionally requested the courtroom to permit cameras to stay.
WATCH: Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer arrives in courtroom
Utah 4th District Court Judge Tony Graf established a strict schedule Friday, limiting each side to half-hour to argue for a possible delay of subsequent month’s preliminary hearing.
Following that movement, the courtroom will allocate two hours per aspect for arguments and witness testimony regarding media entry within the courtroom. Graf mentioned that the courtroom will briefly near the general public throughout a noon recess earlier than permitting the state to current its case and the media to supply a 15-minute response.
A ultimate ruling will probably be issued at a later date by way of WebEx to permit the courtroom time to totally evaluation the evidentiary document, he mentioned.
Tyler Robinson, left, is accused of fatally taking pictures Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, proper, at a public talking occasion at Utah Valley University in September. (Bethany Baker/Pool by way of REUTERS, Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Defense legal professional Richard Novak started the hearing by arguing that Robinson’s preliminary hearing should be delayed as a result of the prosecution has failed to show over important digital DNA information held by the FBI and ATF. Novak mentioned that continuing with out this “raw data” violates Robinson’s constitutional rights and prevents the protection from verifying the reliability of the state’s scientific proof.
“We’re not asking somebody to go looking for a needle in a haystack,” Novak mentioned. “We know that these data files exist because we have summary FBI and ATF reports summarizing the data analysis that go all the way back to September.”
During Novak’s opening assertion, Robinson’s dad and mom, Matt and Amber, listened quietly; his mom fidgeted in her seat immediately behind him.
Prosecutor Ryan McBride countered that the protection’s request for a six-month delay is an pointless stall tactic, arguing that professional DNA discovery is a trial-level problem that has “nothing to do” with the restricted scope of a preliminary hearing. McBride mentioned that Utah regulation requires solely a displaying of possible trigger.
The prosecution’s narrative met quick resistance from the gallery, the place Robinson’s mom, Amber, was seen leaning over to a member of the family to whisper, “He was not wearing shorts,” as McBride described surveillance video from the University of Utah that allegedly confirmed Robinson.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” McBride mentioned, arguing {that a} prolonged continuance would infringe on the sufferer’s proper to a speedy trial whereas witness reminiscences fade.
Novak characterised the state’s manufacturing as “gigantic and voluminous,” telling the courtroom that his attorneys have not completed studying the hundreds of pages of discovery already sitting on their desks.
“Have we had a reasonable time to do so? No,” Novak advised the decide.
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Tyler Robinson, left, accused within the deadly taking pictures of Charlie Kirk, sits beside protection legal professional Kathryn Nester throughout a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune by way of Pool)
Judge Tony Graf has already allowed a news digital camera to be current for the hearing, below the situation that it doesn’t document any personal conversations or the faces of Robinson’s household, which is predicted to take a seat within the entrance row of the courtroom.
At least one professional witness is predicted to testify on the potential affect of social media and widespread news protection on the jury pool, with Robinson’s protection bringing in a outstanding social psychologist named Bryan Edelman.
Edelman has labored on quite a lot of main circumstances, together with enjoying a job in Bryan Kohberger‘s profitable movement for a change of venue within the Idaho pupil murders and the trial of Buffalo grocery store mass shooter Payton Gendron.
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Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride addresses the courtroom throughout a hearing for Tyler Robinson in Fourth District Court in Provo on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Robinson is accused of taking pictures Kirk throughout a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in September 2025. He allegedly climbed to a rooftop throughout the courtyard from the place Kirk was talking and fired a single shot from his grandfather’s Mauser rifle.
Bystander video exhibits the bullet struck Kirk within the neck — in entrance of a crowd of roughly 3,000 individuals. He died from the damage.
4th District Court Judge Tony Graf speaks throughout a waiver hearing for Tyler Robinson, the person accused of killing Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, in Utah County Court in Provo, Utah, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News)
Surveillance video exhibits a person in darkish clothes dropping down from the far aspect of the constructing working off campus.
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Prosecutors have mentioned campus police discovered marks left behind on the gravel rooftop moments after the shooting “consistent with a sniper having lain [there] — impressions in the gravel potentially left by the elbows, knees and feet of a person in a prone shooting position.” They additionally discovered the suspected murder weapon within the woods within the course the suspect ran.
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Prosecutors have mentioned that textual content messages between Robinson and his romantic companion, Lance Twiggs, allegedly focus on eager to retrieve the weapon.
Erika Kirk seems emotional after President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to her late husband Charlie Kirk, within the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
“Stuck in Orem for a little while longer yet,” Robinson allegedly wrote within the hours after the murder. “Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still.”
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Twiggs is cooperating with investigators and has not been charged with against the law.
Robinson might face the loss of life penalty if convicted of the top charge in opposition to him, aggravated murder. He can be accused of felony discharge of a firearm inflicting severe bodily damage, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and committing a violent offense within the presence of a kid.
People run after photographs have been fired throughout an look by Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founding father of Turning Point USA, was talking on his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot within the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
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Kirk, 31, was a married father of two.
A preliminary hearing, during which prosecutors must present possible trigger for bringing the case, is scheduled for subsequent month. It’s already been postpone repeatedly within the wake of Robinson’s arrest in September 2025.
Fox News’ Nikki DiRico contributed to this report.
