PROVO: Prosecutors on Monday (Jul 6) started laying out their case {that a} Utah man ought to stand trial for last year’s killing of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist credited with energising younger voters behind Donald Trump within the 2024 US presidential election.
In a packed Provo, Utah courtroom, Kirk‘s widow Erika Kirk sat toes away from Tyler Robinson, the man accused of driving 4 hours from his Utah city of Washington to homicide Kirk, 31, on September 10, 2025. Members of Robinson’s household additionally have been current. Robinson, carrying a gray jacket, sat between his attorneys, taking notes.
In the course of the week-long preliminary listening to, the state prosecutors should persuade District Courtroom Decide Tony Graf that possible trigger exists to consider that Robinson, 23, fired the only shot that killed Kirk in entrance of hundreds of individuals in Orem, Utah.
Kirk, an influential US conservative, was showing at Utah Valley College, 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake Metropolis, for certainly one of his campus debates that drew crowds and propelled him to nationwide prominence.
The primary prosecution witness was Chris Bagley, an officer with the college’s police pressure on responsibility the day of the killing.
“He was answering a query, after which I heard a shot fired,” Bagley stated, referring to Kirk.
Bagley stated he had solely a partial view of Kirk, who was sitting below a tent, and noticed him lean to the left additional out of his sight. Bagley stated he heard an preliminary report, which turned out to be mistaken, {that a} suspect had been taken into custody.
Bagley stated he later ran to a different campus constructing from the place he believed the shot had come, went up 4 flights of stairs to the roof, the place he discovered a screwdriver, {a photograph} of which was entered into proof.
Prosecutors are anticipated to indicate graphic video of the killing, and Kirk‘s household could depart the courtroom when some proof is introduced, in keeping with an individual accustomed to the state of affairs.
