Attorneys representing Tyler Robinson, accused of assassinating influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk, are challenging the prosecution’s grounds for seeking the death penalty. In a recent court document released Tuesday night, Robinson’s lawyers assert that the prosecution has not sufficiently justified such a severe charge.

“The facts and legal precedents compellingly oblige this Court to eliminate the sole aggravating factor from considerations,” state defense attorneys Kathy Nester, Michael Burt, Richard Novak, and Staci Visser in their comprehensive 41-page legal brief.

Following an extensive preliminary hearing conducted over the course of a week in early July, Judge Tony Graf Jr. has allowed both legal teams the opportunity to submit their arguments. His decision on whether there is sufficient probable cause to advance the case to trial is anticipated to be announced on September 1.

Robinson, at age 23, stands accused of fatally shooting the 31-year-old Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. Kirk, a staunch advocate for conservative values on college campuses nationwide, was addressing an audience of over 2,000 when he was tragically shot in the neck, resulting in his death.

Robinson’s defense argued in Tuesday’s filing that prosecutors didn’t establish probable cause concerning the aggravating factor — that the shooting created a high probability of death to someone other than Kirk and that Robinson knew of that “high probability.”

Without the aggravator, the potential death penalty would be taken off the table.

“The State had over ten months to investigate the shooting death of Charlie Kirk and to develop legally sufficient evidence that Mr. Robinson ‘knowingly created a great risk of death to another other than Charlie Kirk and the defendant,’ the sole aggravator alleged in the Information which in theory exposes Mr. Robinson to the potential punishment of death,” Robinson’s attorneys wrote. “The State’s presentation of its evidence as to this alleged circumstance in aggravation at the preliminary hearing in July 2026 wholly fails to carry its burden of proof.”

Read the filing:

Robinson’s lawyers noted that there was only one shot fired and that it struck Kirk. No one else was hit.

They also argued that no one else was in the line of fire — noting that the bullet came from the rooftop, following a downward trajectory before striking Kirk.

“The only evidence presented supports that the bullet travelled above, not through, the crowd,” they wrote.

When the suspected murder weapon was recovered, a .30-06 bolt-action Mauser rifle, there was a spent casing in the chamber and three unfired rounds.

And the evidence introduced by Utah County prosecutors indicates Kirk was the lone target, according to the defense filing.

“The communications the State admitted between Mr. Robinson and Mr. Twiggs indicate Mr. Robinson’s intention to kill Charlie Kirk,” the defense wrote, citing an alleged message from Robinson: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I took it.”

“There is no mention of any threat or intended harm to any other individual(s).”

Prosecutors have a deadline next week to reply to the brief. Graf’s decision is expected at the Sept. 1 hearing.

Donna Rotunno, a Chicago-based lawyer and Fox News contributor, said Robinson’s argument is a long-shot, especially at the probable cause stage of the case.

“The evidence in the preliminary hearing has already proven that there were many people there,” she told News Media Wednesday. “The evidence has shown where the shooter was vs. where Charlie was and where the shot was taken from, the amount of people who were in the line of fire. They can argue those facts from other pieces of evidence that they’ve introduced. They didn’t need somebody specifically to get on the witness stand and say there were all these people in danger.”

Prosecutors have alleged that Robinson is the man who appears on surveillance video approaching a sniper’s perch. According to investigators, the killer opened fire from a rooftop on the far side of the packed courtyard, which was full of spectators.

“If you drive a car into a crowd, that whole crowd is in danger,” Rotunno added. “I don’t think that argument is a stretch.”

Robinson’s lawyers also renewed their attempt to throw out hearsay evidence from the preliminary hearing, arguing that prosecutors haven’t established its reliability.

Similar objections failed in July, and Rotunno said she expects them to fail again.

“They’re relitigating many issues that the judge has already ruled on, and they’re going nowhere,” she said.

The defense is also asking Graf to strike two lesser charges — witness tampering and committing a violent offense in the presence of a child — arguing that Robinson was advising his roommate Lance Twiggs to exercise his constitutional rights and that prosecutors failed to show Robinson knew children were present at the time of the shooting.

And they argue that the enhancement that Kirk was targeted for his political expression should also be dropped, disputing an alleged text from Robinson to Twiggs stating, “I had enough of his hatred.”

“It is the State that argues that because Mr. Robinson and Mr. Twiggs are two men who love each other and/or, it speculates, because Mr. Twiggs (and not Mr. Robinson) was at least intermittently identifying as a female to his close friends, it is Mr. Kirk’s views on these topics which are the ‘hatred’ Mr. Robinson was referring to,” the defense wrote. “These circumstances are not sufficient to establish, even by probable cause which if any political expression of Mr. Kirk motivated Mr. Robinson to select Mr. Kirk for an act of violence.”

Robinson has not yet entered a plea.

Dario Amodei’s Anthropic has introduced watermarks to content crafted by their AI systems, responding to stringent European transparency regulations—a move that hasn’t been universally popular among users.

Famed for its Claude chatbot, the AI powerhouse cited the European Union AI Act’s transparency guidelines as the catalyst for this change, aimed at helping individuals differentiate between content created by humans and AI. This new law came into effect on August 2.

According to Anthropic’s support documentation, these watermarks are embedded automatically in all text, images, and files generated by their AI technology.

“Whenever a Claude-supported model produces text, an invisible watermark is seamlessly integrated into the text,” reads a statement on the company’s site. “This mark won’t be visible and won’t alter the content’s meaning, quality, or clarity.”

Additionally, Anthropic notes that these watermarks will “remain attached to the text when duplicated and pasted into other documents, potentially enduring some levels of editing.”

The watermarks will be implemented “wherever Claude is offered, worldwide,” including within the Claude Platform API, Claude Code, Claude Cowork and Claude Tag.

Anthropic acknowledged that its detection program has “limitations” and may not always identify AI-generated content, especially in cases where text has been “heavily edited, paraphrased, translated, or mixed into other writing” or the “passage is very short.”

The European Commission, the EU’s digital watchdog, has said it had “strong backing” from the tech industry in its push to clearly label AI-generated content so that users aren’t misled.

As of July 31, the EU had secured commitments from nearly 200 companies to comply with its transparency rules.

Aside from Anthropic, AI giants like Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Google and Microsoft all signed on to the pledge.

“By signing the code, providers and deployers of generative AI systems signal their intention to promote public trust in AI and to mitigate deception and misinformation,” the EU said in a press release.

The efforts by Anthropic and other companies come amid heightened concerns about the rise of so-called “AI slop” and AI-generated content being passed off as authentic.

Last month, a debut novelist’s $2 million book deal was canceled after a publisher became concerned that he had used AI to write the manuscript.

Still, Anthropic’s new policy irked some commenters, with one calling it “total bulls–t.”

Others pointed out that tech-savvy consumers may be able to find workarounds.

It’s “hard to see what Claude’s watermarking approach really solves,” one person wrote on X.

“There are already plenty of free and open-source models without watermarks, so anyone who really wants to avoid them can simply use something else.”

In a chilling incident that rocked a quiet Florida community, a mother was tragically abducted and murdered by her ex-boyfriend, a sheriff’s deputy, who later took his own life, authorities reveal.

This heartbreaking event unfolded in Hudson, a suburb north of Tampa, as the victim returned home with her daughters, aged nine and twelve, after a relaxing day at the beach, officials reported.

Awaiting them outside was her former partner, 47-year-old Pinellas County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Savetz. Social media accounts suggest their relationship had been tumultuous and sporadic over time.

An argument ensued over retrieving some of Savetz’s belongings, notably a television, which quickly escalated. In a devastating turn, Savetz abducted the woman in the presence of her young daughters, drove her to another location, and fatally shot her before committing suicide, as detailed by Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco during a press briefing.

Authorities have not officially disclosed the identity of the victim, but heartfelt messages and tributes on social media identify her as Mandy Fackler, a 39-year-old real estate professional, leaving her community in mourning.

On March 24, Fackler had posted selfies with Savetz in which the two were holding matching mugs. In the post, she discussed giving the deputy another chance.

‘Instead of growing through pain and moving on from each other, maybe we’re meant to grow with each other this time. Not battling one another – but standing side by side through it,’ she wrote. 

She said the decision let her ‘feel safe. Held. Cared for. Not perfectly, but real.’ 

‘My babies wake up telling me how happy they are. Was well worth fighting my own dragon to figure this out and give them the harmony of a family unit I’d always wanted to be able to,’ the mother concluded her post.   

But by the time Savetz showed up to Fackler’s house on Monday, about five months after the post, it appeared that their relationship had broken down again.

The awful sequence of events that led to the mother’s death was detailed by Sheriff Nocco during Monday night’s press conference. 

The sheriff said that after the argument escalated, Fackler had attempted to call 911, but Savetz snatched the phone from her hand. 

The mother told her daughters to go inside and call police, which they did. One of the girls spoke with the dispatcher at around 5.30pm, explaining what was happening and that Savetz was a Pinellas County deputy. 

‘The child was absolutely, extremely brave in what she did and what she said,’ Nocco told reporters. 

Pasco County deputies arrived and ‘cleared the house’ where the two girls were waiting, the sheriff said, but Fackler and Savetz were nowhere to be found. 

The mother’s truck was still in the driveway with the door open and her phone still inside. 

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office soon learned that Savetz had gone to his ex-girlfriend’s house in a rented car. The department notified several surrounding sheriff’s offices, including Pinellas County, as well as Florida Highway Patrol. 

A large search ensued comprised of K-9 units, drones and ‘aviation units,’ Nocco said.

The search party received a ping from Savetz’s phone at a house about six miles away from Fackler’s residence, which they went to investigate. 

A deputy spotted the rental car, and police flew a drone to look inside the vehicle at around 7pm. They found the bodies of Savetz and Fackler inside. 

Nocco said that before the grisly discovery, a witness had seen Savetz driving down the street and had exchanged a thumbs up with the deputy. 

The sheriff said that Savetz had taken his own life shortly after that exchange, but ‘we’re not sure when, at what point, the suspect killed the victim.’

Fackler’s daughters have been released to the care of their biological father. 

During the press conference, Nocco took the opportunity to discuss ‘the scourge of domestic violence,’ and said: ‘The victim left behind two children… those two children, they should be starting off the week getting ready for school.’ 

‘But what they’re doing is starting off this week getting ready for a sad life without their mother,’ he continued. ‘And I have a message for those two children.’

‘We listened to that 911 tape, and we know that your mother said to go inside, to save your lives and to call 911. You did exactly what your mom asked you to do,’ Nocco continued.

‘So know this, your mom is looking down from Heaven, and she’s so proud of you two because she did exactly what any parent would have wanted her children to do, and that’s to save their own lives and be safe.’ 

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri also spoke at the press conference and said that Savetz had worked at the department for 14 years, most recently assigned to the marine unit. 

Gualtieri called his former deputy’s actions ‘inexplicable,’ adding: ‘There is no reason to have a permanent solution to a temporary problem.’ 

He claimed that Savetz had ‘obviously’ been suffering from ‘some mental health issues.’

‘It’s just a very, very horrific, to say the least, situation,’ the sheriff added. ‘Mental health issues are a problem, but you don’t kill somebody and take your own life. It’s inexcusable.’ 

If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.