Tyler Robinson Hearing Could Shape Death Penalty Decision and Plea in Charlie Kirk Case

PROVO, Utah — Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, is due back in a Utah courtroom Tuesday for a pivotal hearing that could determine whether the high-profile case moves toward trial or takes a major turn. Judge Tony Graf Jr. is expected to consider whether prosecutors have presented sufficient probable cause to keep an aggravated murder charge in place — a count that makes Robinson eligible for the death penalty — and the defendant could be called on to enter a plea nearly a year after the killing.

Robinson, 23, of Washington, Utah, is charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 10, 2025. Authorities say a single gunshot killed Kirk as the event was underway.

Defense attorneys have maintained that the state has not met the threshold needed to proceed with aggravated murder, the most serious charge in the case and the one that keeps capital punishment in play. Still, legal observers told News Media they would be surprised if Graf removes the death penalty possibility at this stage.

“We’re at a preliminary hearing stage, so we’re at a very low burden,” said Skye Lazaro, a Salt Lake City defense attorney who is not involved in the case. “It’s probable cause, and everything is taken in a light most favorable to the state.”

The decision follows a weeklong hearing held in early July, after which the judge allowed prosecutors and defense lawyers several weeks to submit written arguments. Graf is now expected to rule Tuesday on whether the case against Robinson can proceed as charged.

She said she expects the entire case to be bound over for trial, including the sole aggravating factor that makes the aggravated murder charge eligible for the potential death penalty — that Robinson allegedly put other people at great risk of death by shooting Kirk in a crowded place.

Greg Rogers, a former FBI agent and SWAT sniper who now teaches at Utah Valley University, said the alleged risk to the crowd should be enough to preserve the aggravating factor at this stage.

“Shooting into a crowd is always dangerous because you don’t know if someone moves, someone walks behind him,” Rogers told News Media. “There are all sorts of things that could happen in the very instant you pull that trigger.”

Rogers said even highly trained law-enforcement snipers would consider such a shot dangerous.

“When you have a rank amateur that is shooting, it’s clearly, clearly very dangerous,” he said.

Potential plea:

Separately, a court spokeswoman said last week that Graf may or may not hold an arraignment after deciding whether there’s enough probable cause to bind the case over for trial.

If he does, it would be the first time that Robinson is asked to enter a plea.

“I would expect that they would enter not guilty pleas and move forward,” Lazaro said.

Lazaro said a different plea would likely require an agreement taking the death penalty off the table.

“I think the state has been so assertive on their position about the death penalty in this case that I don’t see them doing that right now,” Lazaro said.

To attack the aggravator, Robinson’s defense argued that only a single shot was fired, from an elevated position. It traveled over the crowd, rather than through it, and it only struck Kirk.

Prosecutors countered that Robinson was a bad shot, one who “seldom hit the bullseye and sometimes misses the target completely” when practicing shooting with the suspected murder weapon.

Other evidence against Robinson includes the suspected murder weapon, a .30-06 Mauser rifle that prosecutors have said belonged to his grandfather and had his DNA on it. Robinson allegedly confessed to multiple people, including his roommate and lover, Lance Twiggs, according to court documents.

“This is likely as straightforward a bindover decision as this Court will ever see,” prosecutors wrote. “After admitting to several friends, including his roommate and romantic partner, that he assassinated Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, in front of approximately 3,000 eyewitnesses, Defendant surrendered to law enforcement for that crime.”

Prosecutors also presented surveillance video, ballistic evidence, an alleged handwritten confession and witness statements.

In one message to Twiggs, Robinson allegedly wrote that, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”

A source close to the Kirk family said last week that Kirk’s widow Erika, and his parents, Rob and Kathy, all plan to attend the Sept. 1 hearing together as they did during the July hearing.

But even if the case moves forward, Lazaro said the pretrial sparring won’t end any time soon.

“I do think we’re going to see a lot more litigation come down the road in terms of 1102 and expert-witness designations, forensic testimony on the ballistics and things like that,” Lazaro said.