A vital courtroom listening to bought underway on Monday to find out whether or not prosecutors have sufficient proof to warrant a homicide trial for the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Utah prosecutors mentioned they’ve a mountain of proof in opposition to the suspect, 23-year-old Tyler James Robinson, and plan to hunt the loss of life penalty.
The state started presenting its proof on Monday at a preliminary listening to within the 4th District Court docket in Provo, Utah. The listening to is anticipated to last as long as 5 days.
Tyler Robinson (R), accused within the deadly taking pictures of Charlie Kirk, attends a preliminary listening to on the Fourth District Courthouse, July 6, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
Courtroom Pool Feed
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and his mother and father, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, are attending the listening to, marking the primary time they’ve seen Robinson in individual. President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who was a buddy of Charlie Kirk, was additionally seated within the courtroom gallery.
The Kirk household released a statement Monday morning, saying, “Charlie was a beloved husband, son, brother, buddy, and father.”
Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley College. Sept. 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah, simply moments earlier than he was fatally shot.
The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Photos
“Each courtroom continuing serves as a painful reminder of his loss of life and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his kids,” the household mentioned. “We stay deeply grateful for the assist, prayers, and kindness we now have obtained. This outpouring has sustained us in the course of the darkest days of our lives.”
The household mentioned it won’t be commenting additional on the case: “We ask for continued privateness as we navigate this course of and immense grief.”
Charlie Kirk’s mother and father, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, arrive on the Fourth District Courthouse for a listening to for Tyler Robinson, accused within the deadly taking pictures of Charlie Kirk, July 6, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
Marielle Scott/AP Photograph
District Decide Tony Graf, who’s presiding over the listening to, will weigh the proof offered by prosecutors and resolve if there is sufficient to maintain Robinson over for trial and whether or not prosecutors can proceed in looking for the loss of life penalty.
At first of the listening to, Chief Deputy Utah County Lawyer Chad Gruander knowledgeable Graf that the state plans to name 4 witnesses on Monday, all legislation enforcement officers, and current 40 to 50 reveals, some he warned are graphic in nature.
Matt Robinson and Amber Robinson arrive on the Fourth Judicial District Courthouse to attend a preliminary listening to for his or her son, Tyler Robinson, the person accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, in Provo, Utah, July 6, 2026.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters
Prosecutors want solely to show that there are affordable grounds to warrant a trial for Robinson. If Graf orders Robinson to proceed to trial, prosecutors should then show past an inexpensive doubt at a trial that the defendant is responsible of killing the 31-year-old Kirk.
Robinson has been charged with aggravated homicide, felony discharge of a firearm inflicting severe bodily damage, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and fee of a violent offense within the presence of a kid.
Robinson has but to enter a plea to the fees, and his attorneys haven’t issued any statements on his guilt or innocence.
The deadly taking pictures of Kirk, who was the founding father of the conservative youth motion Turning Level USA and a powerful ally of President Donald Trump, occurred in September 2025 at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley College in Orem, Utah.
President Donald Trump posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to late conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he presents the Medal to Kirk’s spouse, Erika Kirk, throughout a ceremony within the Rose Backyard of the White Home, October 14, 2025.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos
On Sept. 10, 2025, Kirk was holding the primary cease of his “The American Comeback Tour,” which invited college students on faculty campuses to debate hot-button points. He was at an amphitheater on the campus of Utah Valley College taking a query about gun violence in America when a single shot rang out from a distance away, hitting him within the left aspect of his neck.
Kirk’s safety group instantly carried him to a car and rushed him to a hospital, the place he was pronounced useless.
Police investigators have mentioned the shot that killed Kirk was fired from the rooftop of a constructing about 200 ft from the place Kirk was talking.
Robinson allegedly fled the scene on foot, prompting an enormous manhunt. He surrendered to authorities on the night time of Sept. 11, 2025, after his father contacted legislation enforcement officers and informed them he acknowledged his son in images of the suspect launched by authorities, officers mentioned.
Based on courtroom paperwork, Robinson allegedly confessed in a observe left for his roommate, who was additionally his romantic associate, that learn, “I had the chance to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
On the day of the taking pictures, Robinson allegedly despatched his boyfriend a textual content message that mentioned, “Drop what you might be doing, look below my keyboard,” Utah County Lawyer Jeff Grey mentioned at a information convention following Robinson’s arrest.
Robinson’s boyfriend informed police that he discovered a handwritten letter below the keyboard, based on Grey, who mentioned the observe learn partly, “In case you are studying this per my textual content, then I’m so sorry. I left the home this morning on a mission, and set an auto textual content.”
Grey mentioned Robinson allegedly despatched one other message to his boyfriend, writing of Kirk, “I had sufficient of his hatred. Some hate cannot be negotiated out.”
