Charlie Kirk murder suspect faces hearing on excluding news cameras

PROVO, UT – Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin Tyler Robinson arrived again in courtroom Friday for a hearing on his protection group’s movement to exclude news cameras, and he nonetheless hasn’t entered a plea greater than seven months after a capturing in entrance of a crowd of 1000’s at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

Robinson arrived on the courthouse in an armored car with a police escort shortly earlier than 9 am native time Friday. Fox News Digital noticed 14-armed SWAT members arriving, together with snipers on the roofs across the courthouse.

A central side of the hearing is predicted to incorporate arguments weighing the general public’s First Amendment proper to have entry to the proceedings and the 22-year-old defendant’s constitutional rights to a fair trial.

Erika Kirk, Charlie’s 37-year-old widow and the designated sufferer’s consultant, has requested the courtroom to safeguard meaningful media access because the case performs out. Two teams of native and nationwide media retailers, certainly one of which incorporates Fox News, have additionally requested the courtroom to permit cameras to stay.

TYLER ROBINSON JUDGE UNSEALS ATF REPORT IN ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK

Judge Tony Graf has already allowed a news digital camera to be current for the hearing, underneath the situation that it doesn’t document any non-public conversations or the faces of Robinson’s household, which is predicted to take a seat within the entrance row of the courtroom.

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Tyler Robinson, left, accused within the deadly capturing of Charlie Kirk, sits beside protection lawyer Kathryn Nester throughout a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune through Pool)

At least one professional witness is predicted to testify on the potential influence of social media and widespread news protection on the jury pool, with Robinson’s protection bringing in a outstanding social psychologist named Bryan Edelman.

Edelman has labored on quite a few main instances, together with taking part in a task in Bryan Kohberger‘s profitable movement for a change of venue within the Idaho pupil murders and the trial of Buffalo grocery store mass shooter Payton Gendron.

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Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride addresses the courtroom throughout a hearing for Tyler Robinson in Fourth District Court in Provo on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Robinson is accused of capturing Kirk throughout a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in September 2025. He allegedly climbed to a rooftop throughout the courtyard from the place Kirk was talking and fired a single shot from his grandfather’s Mauser rifle.

Bystander video reveals the bullet struck Kirk within the neck — in entrance of a crowd of roughly 3,000 folks. He died from the harm.

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4th District Court Judge Tony Graf speaks throughout a waiver hearing for Tyler Robinson, the person accused of killing Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, in Utah County Court in Provo, Utah, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (Laura Seitz/The Deseret News)

Surveillance video reveals a person in darkish clothes dropping down from the far facet of the constructing operating off campus.

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Prosecutors have mentioned campus police discovered marks left behind on the gravel rooftop moments after the shooting “consistent with a sniper having lain [there] — impressions in the gravel potentially left by the elbows, knees and feet of a person in a prone shooting position.” They additionally discovered the suspected murder weapon within the woods within the path the suspect ran.

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Prosecutors have mentioned that textual content messages between Robinson and his romantic companion, Lance Twiggs, allegedly talk about eager to recuperate the weapon.

Erika Kirk seems emotional after President Donald Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to her late husband Charlie Kirk, within the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

“Stuck in Orem for a little while longer yet,” Robinson allegedly wrote within the hours after the murder. “Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still.”

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Twiggs is cooperating with investigators and has not been charged with against the law.

Robinson may face the demise penalty if convicted of the top charge towards him, aggravated murder. He can also be accused of legal discharge of a firearm inflicting severe bodily harm, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and committing a violent offense within the presence of a kid.

People run after pictures have been fired throughout an look by Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. Kirk, founding father of Turning Point USA, was talking on his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot within the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

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Kirk, 31, was a married father of two.

A preliminary hearing, through which prosecutors should present possible trigger for bringing the case, is scheduled for subsequent month. It’s already been postpone repeatedly within the wake of Robinson’s arrest in September 2025.

Fox News’ Nikki DiRico contributed to this report.