Prosecutors outline motive in Charlie Kirk murder preliminary hearing, defense challenges religious statements

Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin, Tyler Robinson, is appearing in a Utah courtroom this week for preliminary hearings.

The 23-year-old faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder in the September 2025 death of the conservative influencer at Utah Valley University.  

Erika Kirk attended the proceeding alongside Kirk’s parents and Donald Trump Jr on Monday.

“Charlie was a beloved husband, son, brother, friend and father,” Erika Kirk shared in a statement on social media. “Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children.”

The prosecution called its first witness Monday to establish probable cause.

Spanish Fork Police Officer Christopher Bagley testified that he heard a gunshot and climbed to the building’s rooftop, where he found a screwdriver and a “sniper pad.”

FBI examiner Amanda Baker testified about DNA recovered from what Bagley found. Tests were also done on the towel found wrapped around the murder weapon. She told the court how the testing provided very strong support linking both Robinson and his roommate to the items.

Lead investigator David Hull testified footage shows Robinson crawling on a campus rooftop moments before the fatal shooting last September. Hull says a Spanish Fork police officer stopped Robinson’s car near the Utah Valley University campus the morning after the shooting, linking him to the scene.

Videos showing Kirk being shot were played in court, but the judge restricted the viewing to private monitors for the judge and the attorneys. That didn’t stop courtroom cameras from capturing the judge’s rection to Kirk’s death on the screen.

Tuesday’s hearing sparked a debate over Robinson’s motive. Prosecutors introduced a Turning Point USA statement detailing Kirk’s Christian views on gender and marriage. The state argues Robinson intentionally targeted and assassinated the conservative influencer because he strongly opposed those specific beliefs.

Defense attorney Richard Novack objected to the statement’s relevance arguing the charging document alleged Robinson targeted Kirk over his political expression, not his religion. Novack argued introducing biblical interpretations and religious doctrine into the hearing risked prejudicing the proceedings.

“I didn’t bring the Bible to this courtroom, the state brought it, and that concerns me greatly because the state is turning this into a question of whether Mr. Robinson’s views, identity, life are anti-Christian,” Novack said.

The judge provisionally admitted the statement but opted not to display it publicly in the courtroom.

Robinson’s five-day preliminary hearing is scheduled to conclude Friday.