Provo, Utah —
Over the last week, attorneys, news reporters and spectators gathered in a Provo, Utah, courtroom as prosecutors tried to convince a judge to allow the case against the 23-year-old man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk to proceed to trial.
The proceedings were frequently bogged down by arguments over whether certain exhibits could be admitted into evidence and publicly broadcast via a camera in the courtroom. Still, it was a pivotal moment, offering the fullest picture yet of the case against Tyler Robinson, some ten months after the death of the 31-year-old conservative firebrand and co-founder of Turning Point USA.
During the five-day preliminary hearing, the Utah County Attorney’s Office displayed campus surveillance video around the time of the shooting, alleged messages from Robinson prosecutors describe as a confession and a videotaped interview with a key witness: Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner.
The defense, meanwhile, worked to undercut the forensic evidence and raise questions about law enforcement’s handling of the investigation. Robinson’s attorneys called three witnesses to testify about the results of DNA and ballistics testing, but Robinson himself did not take the stand, choosing to heed his attorneys’ advice, his defense team said.
