<\/p>\n
PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 The murder case against the Utah man accused of killing\u00a0Charlie Kirk\u00a0last year is headed for trial, and the defendant could face the death penalty if he\u2019s convicted.<\/p>\n
Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with prosecutors who said they had \u201ca mountain of evidence\u201d that defendant Tyler Robinson fatally shot the conservative activist as he spoke to a crowd of thousands at\u00a0Utah Valley University\u00a0last September.<\/p>\n
Robinson pleaded not guilty to all counts, including aggravated murder, following Graf\u2019s decision. The 23-year-old defendant\u00a0turned himself in\u00a0a day after the shooting, and his lawyers have not offered alternative theories for Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
The defense team tried to block a trial or at least take the death penalty\u00a0off the table, arguing that prosecutors failed to show Kirk\u2019s shooting placed others around him at risk of death. That\u2019s an aggravating factor under state law that makes Robinson eligible for capital punishment.<\/p>\n
Kirk’s family called the ruling \u201can important step in our family\u2019s pursuit of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery step in this process carries the weight of all that Charlie\u2019s murder has taken from his family, especially his children who will grow up without their father,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Robinson shot Kirk from a rooftop more than 400 feet (122 meters) away, knowing he could have missed and killed others at the open-air event.<\/p>\n
\u201cTyler James Robinson shot and killed Charlie Kirk because he disagreed with him, and he did it by firing a high-powered rifle into a crowd of over 3,000 people, which created a great risk of death that anyone would know about,\u201d said Ryan McBride, a prosecutor with the Utah County Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Graf had the option to send the case to trial on a lesser charge of murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison. He said his decision to approve the aggravated murder charge was based on the positions of several people in and around a tent where Kirk was speaking, among other factors.<\/p>\n
The hearing Tuesday in state court came after prosecutors\u00a0in July spent five days\u00a0presenting evidence, including DNA and a handwritten note they allege Robinson left for his romantic partner that read, \u201cI had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirk\u2019s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, entered the heavily secured courthouse arm in arm before the hearing in Provo. His widow,\u00a0Erika Kirk, was seated beside them. The family stepped out briefly while a prosecutor described the shooting. Erika Kirk and her mother-in-law held each other in a long embrace while the judge read his ruling.<\/p>\n
A few dozen local members of Charlie Kirk\u2019s organization, Turning Point USA, assembled outside the courthouse Tuesday evening to watch the family leave and express support.<\/p>\n
Robinson had no visible reaction to the ruling. Tears welled in his mother\u2019s eyes as Graf read it aloud.<\/p>\n
Staci Visser, an attorney for Robinson, argued that prosecutors were trying to \u201cshoehorn\u201d the case into Utah’s aggravated murder statute. Prior case law required prosecutors to show that there was a high probability \u2014 not merely a possibility \u2014 that other people could have been killed, she noted.<\/p>\n
Kirk was seated on a stage in an elevated position, not immediately near anyone else, when he was shot once in the neck, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is one shot. There is one bullet. There is one victim,\u201d Visser said. \u201cThere is zero evidence that there was any action taken towards other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Chad Grunander noted that the\u00a0alleged murder weapon\u00a0\u2014 a bolt-action rifle \u2014 was loaded with additional rounds that had not been fired, saying Robinson \u201ccame prepared to shoot again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators presented\u00a0DNA analyses\u00a0in July that they said linked Robinson to the rifle and a tool he allegedly used to engrave the bullet cartridges. Defense attorneys questioned the reliability of the DNA tests.<\/p>\n
Robinson also faces potential sentencing enhancements if prosecutors can show he targeted Kirk for his political beliefs.<\/p>\n
Before his death, Kirk and Turning Point USA\u00a0galvanized the conservative youth vote\u00a0to help President Donald Trump win a second term.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors argued that a bullet found in the rifle, engraved with \u201cHey Facist! CATCH!\u201d, shows that Kirk was targeted for how the defendant perceived his politics. They have also alleged Robinson wrote in a text message about Kirk: \u201cI had enough of his hatred. Some hate can\u2019t be negotiated out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors do not have strong enough evidence to prove a political motivation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 The murder case against the Utah man accused of killing\u00a0Charlie Kirk\u00a0last year is headed for trial, and the defendant could face the death penalty if he\u2019s convicted. Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with prosecutors who said they had \u201ca mountain of evidence\u201d that defendant Tyler Robinson fatally shot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[319,372,1737,10642,1763,1353,373,1259,1738,3213,2726,3302],"class_list":["post-31917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-case","tag-charlie","tag-death","tag-defendant","tag-facing","tag-judge","tag-kirk","tag-murder","tag-penalty","tag-potential","tag-sends","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}