Prosecutors began a hearing to decide if there was enough evidence to put a 23-year-old Utah man on trial for the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a 2025 university event.
Founder and president of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, US, Feb 28, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
07 Jul 2026 03:03AM
(Updated: 07 Jul 2026 03:27AM)
PROVO: Prosecutors on Monday (Jul 6) began laying out their case that a Utah man should stand trial for last year's killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist credited with energising young voters behind Donald Trump in the 2024 US presidential election.In a packed Provo, Utah courtroom, Kirk's widow Erika Kirk sat feet away from Tyler Robinson, the man accused of driving four hours from his Utah town of Washington to murder Kirk, 31, on September 10, 2025. Members of Robinson's family also were present. Robinson, wearing a grey jacket, sat between his lawyers, taking notes.During the week-long preliminary hearing, the state prosecutors must convince District Court Judge Tony Graf that probable cause exists to believe that Robinson, 23, fired the single shot that killed Kirk in front of thousands of people in Orem, Utah.Kirk, an influential US conservative, was appearing at Utah Valley University, 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City, for one of his campus debates that drew crowds and propelled him to national prominence.
