The long-awaited preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, the 23-year-old accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, began on Monday, opening a weeklong stretch of testimony that prosecutors say will include dozens of pieces of new evidence.
Robinson faces aggravated murder along with felony weapons and obstruction charges tied to the September 10, 2025, shooting of Kirk at Utah Valley University, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Robinson has still not entered a plea, and his attorneys have not addressed his guilt or innocence, though they continue pushing to have the death penalty stripped from the case.
Family Speaks Out Before Hearing
Hours before the courtroom doors opened, Kirk’s widow Erika posted a statement on X on behalf of the family, including Charlie’s parents Robert and Kathryn and his sister Mary.
Statement on behalf of Charlie Kirk's immediate family, his parents Robert and Kathryn, his wife, Erika, and his sister, Mary:
Charlie was a beloved husband, son, brother, friend, and father. Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death and the loss that has…
— Erika Kirk (@MrsErikaKirk) July 6, 2026
“Out of respect for the judicial process, we will not be commenting further at this time. We ask for continued privacy as we navigate this process and immense grief,” the family added.
Erika Kirk attended Monday’s session in person alongside Kirk’s parents – the first time the family had been in the same courtroom as the man accused of killing Charlie, per PBS. Donald Trump Jr., who spoke at Kirk’s memorial last fall, was also present. Robinson’s parents sat several rows behind the Kirk family in the gallery.
Erika Kirk and her in-laws did not stay for the full session. They left the courtroom before an officer began testifying about what video footage of the shooting showed, stepping out as the more graphic portions of testimony began.
Monday’s testimony opened with former UVU police officer Christopher Bagley, who was on duty the day Kirk was shot. Under cross-examination, Bagley acknowledged that no metal detectors or surveillance drones had been used despite thousands of attendees on campus that day and said he was “quite surprised” police already had a suspect in custody almost immediately after the shooting.
State investigator David Hull took the stand next, walking the court through the digital trail that led to Robinson. Hull testified that investigators reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance footage before Robinson turned himself in, and that his car was tracked on UVU’s cameras four separate times that day – twice before the shooting, once at the time of the shooting, and again that evening.
Defense attorney Kathryn Nester pushed back on the reliability of the compiled surveillance video, questioning Hull’s ability to vouch for its accuracy.
The court also heard from Bagley about discovering an apparent “sniper pad” on a rooftop near where Kirk was shot, though Bagley said under cross-examination he never learned whether a firearm was recovered from the scene or to whom it belonged.
Video footage of the shooting, including clips captured by a minor in attendance and by a Turning Point USA videographer, was played for the courtroom but shielded from the press livestream and from being filmed, per the judge’s order.
The Note and the DNA Behind the Case
Buried in Monday’s testimony was the piece of evidence prosecutors are leaning on hardest: an alleged confession note Robinson left for his roommate, reading that he’d had the opportunity to “take out Charlie Kirk” and was going to take it, according to CBS News.
Prosecutors also say Robinson separately texted the roommate that he targeted Kirk because he’d “had enough of his hatred.”
Investigators now say DNA consistent with Robinson’s turned up in several places tied to the killing – the rifle’s trigger, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired rounds, and a towel used to wrap the weapon.
Hearsay Fight and What’s Ahead
Presiding over it all is Judge Tony Graf, the same judge who ruled last month that prosecutors wouldn’t need to put Lance Twiggs on the stand.
Twiggs, Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, gave investigators a recorded interview instead of testifying live in the courtroom. Graf’s decision to let that stand in as evidence is now playing out in real time as Twiggs reportedly told investigators that Robinson confessed to killing Kirk and talked about covering up evidence afterward.
Tuesday picks up with the rest of Hull’s testimony, followed by more investigators from Utah’s Bureau of Investigation and the state’s Department of Public Safety.
By the time the week wraps up, Graf will likely have two major decisions to make: whether prosecutors have shown enough for Robinson to stand trial, and whether the shooting endangered enough bystanders to keep the death penalty on the table.
There’s also the matter of that gag-order dispute over a leak of ballistics data, which never got resolved and could still resurface before the hearing is over.
Provided by Dallas Express
