An important court docket 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 dying penalty.
The state started presenting its proof on Monday at a preliminary listening to within the 4th District Courtroom in Provo, Utah. The listening to is predicted to last as long as 5 days.
Tyler Robinson (R), accused within the deadly capturing of Charlie Kirk, attends a preliminary listening to on the Fourth District Courthouse, July 6, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
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Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and his dad and mom, 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 court docket continuing serves as a painful reminder of his dying 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 have now 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 dad and mom, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, arrive on the Fourth District Courthouse for a listening to for Tyler Robinson, accused within the deadly capturing of Charlie Kirk, July 6, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
Marielle Scott/AP Picture
District Choose Tony Graf, who’s presiding over the listening to, will weigh the proof introduced by prosecutors and determine if there is sufficient to maintain Robinson over for trial and whether or not prosecutors can proceed in in search of the dying penalty.
Firstly of the listening to, Chief Deputy Utah County Legal professional Chad Gruander knowledgeable Graf that the state plans to name 4 witnesses on Monday, all legislation enforcement officers, and current 40 to 50 displays, 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 display 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 affordable 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 critical 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 costs, and his attorneys haven’t issued any statements on his guilt or innocence.
The deadly capturing 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 facet of his neck.
Kirk’s safety crew instantly carried him to a automobile 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 evening of Sept. 11, 2025, after his father contacted legislation enforcement officers and instructed them he acknowledged his son in pictures of the suspect launched by authorities, officers mentioned.
Based on court docket paperwork, Robinson allegedly confessed in a be aware left for his roommate, who was additionally his romantic accomplice, that learn, “I had the chance to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
On the day of the capturing, Robinson allegedly despatched his boyfriend a textual content message that mentioned, “Drop what you’re doing, look beneath my keyboard,” Utah County Legal professional Jeff Grey mentioned at a information convention following Robinson’s arrest.
Robinson’s boyfriend instructed police that he discovered a handwritten letter beneath the keyboard, in line with Grey, who mentioned the be aware learn partially, “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.”
