{"id":393299,"date":"2026-07-10T11:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393299\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:54:08","slug":"lawyers-for-man-charged-with-killing-kirk-question-evidence-reliability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393299\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers for man charged with killing Kirk question evidence reliability"},"content":{"rendered":"

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN<\/p>\n

PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 Lawyers for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> plan to call a final witness on Friday as they try to raise doubts about the prosecution\u2019s case before it can go to trial.<\/p>\n

A Utah judge is deciding whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put Tyler Robinson on trial on a charge of aggravated murder. Kirk, 31, was killed as he spoke to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University<\/a> on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

One of Robinson\u2019s attorneys, Michael Burt, tried to inject uncertainty into the case Thursday by challenging the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk\u2019s body. Authorities sought to tie the fragment to the suspected murder weapon, but the results were inconclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying anything but inconclusive was inappropriate,\u201d said Samantha Karner with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n

Burt earlier in the week questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that investigators said linked Robinson to the scene. Experts say the science behind DNA testing is sound.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A video interview with Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson\u2019s roommate and reported romantic partner, is shown during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)\n<\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/p>\n

Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, listens during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A law enforcement officer uses binoculars to watch from the roof of the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026, before a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps)\n<\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Tyler Robinson, who is accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. (Rick Egan\/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool, File)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

A video interview with Lance Twiggs, Tyler Robinson\u2019s roommate and reported romantic partner, is shown during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Robinson has not entered a plea. He turned himself in<\/a> a day after the fatal shooting of Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump credited with helping galvanize young voters for the Republican in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

The defense said it would call a final witness to testify Friday, the final day of the weeklong preliminary hearing.<\/p>\n

However, a decision from state District Judge Tony Graf won\u2019t come until after Sept. 1, when he scheduled oral arguments in the matter.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors on Thursday aired portions of a recorded interview<\/a> with Robinson\u2019s roommate<\/a>, Lance Twiggs.<\/p>\n

The day after Kirk was shot in the neck, Robinson allegedly told Twiggs \u201che wishes he hadn\u2019t done it,\u201d a recording played in court revealed.<\/p>\n

Later that same day \u2014 and only about an hour before turning himself in \u2014 Robinson posted \u201cit was me at UVU yesterday,\u201d in a chat room on the Discord social media platform, according to investigators and messages shown by prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully fought the public release of the statements from Twiggs and the chat room messages. They argued prosecutors would characterize the material as a confession, undermining Robinson\u2019s right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk\u2019s campus event \u2014 an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. Robinson also faces possible sentence enhancements based on claims by prosecutors that he targeted Kirk because of his political views.<\/p>\n

Twiggs said in the April interview with prosecutors and investigators that Robinson sometimes talked about politics, including Trump. But Twiggs said he never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. The defendant also did not talk much about gender issues or LGBTQ rights, Twiggs said.<\/p>\n

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 Lawyers for the man accused of killing conservative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20391,157696,140678,74,76,75,140679],"class_list":["post-393299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-charlie-kirk","tag-charlie-kirk-hearing","tag-charlie-kirk-killing","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-tyler-robinson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}