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PROVO, Utah – Tyler Robinson, the 23-year-old man accused of assassinating Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University last year, is due in court Monday for a week-long preliminary hearing that will determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to move the case toward trial.
While in many cases, prosecutors secure a grand jury indictment behind closed doors and without giving defense lawyers a chance to challenge the evidence, Robinson was charged by information, meaning prosecutors must establish probable cause at a public preliminary hearing before the case can move to trial.
Defense attorneys will be able to cross-examine witnesses. But unlike an actual trial, there is a lower burden of proof. Prosecutors need to show probable cause for the charges against Robinson. They do not have to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That comes at trial, in front of a jury.
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Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, was speaking at a TPUSA event in front of thousands of young people when a sniper’s bullet fatally struck him in the neck. His widow and parents are expected to attend the hearing.
Prosecutors have alleged that investigators found Robinson’s DNA on the trigger of the suspected murder weapon, his grandfather’s Mauser rifle; a towel they found wrapped around it; three of the four bullets inside — and a screwdriver recovered near the suspected rooftop sniper’s perch.
Digital evidence against Robinson is expected to include alleged confessions over text messages and the Discord communications app.
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Police recovered the rifle in a patch of woods near the UVU campus, along the suspect’s escape route. Robinson is accused of sending text messages to his lover, Lance Twiggs, about wanting to retrieve the rifle, and law enforcement sources have said he is believed to have come face-to-face with an officer manning the perimeter nearby.
“Stuck in Orem for a little while longer yet,” Robinson allegedly wrote in the hours after the murder. “Shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still.”
Twiggs, whom Robinson allegedly left a handwritten note confessing to the crime, is cooperating with investigators and has not been charged.
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While the suspect’s lover won’t take the witness stand at the week-long preliminary hearing, prosecutors are expected to play a video of his interview with police.
While Robinson’s defense played up the fact the ATF was unable to conclusively match the bullet that killed Kirk to the Mauser, analysts couldn’t rule it out either. They found it was a consistent caliber and recovered a spent casing that did match.
Witnesses are also expected to place Robinson at the scene — when he lived a four-hour drive away in Washington, Utah.
In addition to allegedly shooting Kirk, he is also accused of witness tampering, committing a violent offense in the presence of a child, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors have alleged Robinson targeted Kirk because of his political views, tried to conceal the rifle and the clothes he wore during the shooting and urged Twiggs to delete incriminating messages, destroy the note and stay silent if police questioned him.
Robinson has not yet entered a plea and won’t be required to do so unless prosecutors prevail at the preliminary hearing.
The top charge against him, aggravated murder, carries the potential death penalty.
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