Charlie Kirk's parents sat beside his widow, Erika Kirk, in a Utah courtroom Monday as the man accused of assassinating the conservative activist appeared for the first day of a five-day preliminary hearing.
Tyler Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the September 2025 shooting that killed Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University. Over the coming week, prosecutors will try to convince Judge Tony Graf they have enough evidence to send Robinson to trial. If he's convicted, they intend to seek the death penalty.
Robert and Kathryn Kirk attended alongside Erika Kirk, with Donald Trump Jr. seated nearby. Robinson's own parents sat a few rows behind the Kirk family. Robinson, dressed in a gray suit and shackled at the wrists, watched the exhibits on a monitor and occasionally took notes.
Much of Monday's testimony centered on evidence gathered in the hours after Kirk was shot in the neck on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking to a crowd of thousands on the Orem campus. Christopher Bagley, a former Utah Valley University police officer who witnessed the shooting, told the court he later climbed to a nearby rooftop and found what looked like a "sniper "pad," marks in the gravel from someone lying prone, he said, with a clear line of sight to where Kirk had been standing. "You've got markings of elbows, knees and feet," Bagley testified.
A second witness, former state investigator David Hull, described how agents combed through hundreds of hours of surveillance video to trace the suspect's movements across campus that day. Hull identified Robinson as the man captured on the footage, seen arriving and leaving the area more than once before and after the shooting. Prosecutors say that video, together with DNA linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, points to a planned attack.
The defense pushed back. Attorney Kathryn Nester questioned whether some of the surveillance footage should be admitted at all, noting that the county attorney's office had edited the clips with zooms and blurs instead of showing the original video. Graf ruled on a string of objections as the two sides worked through what prosecutors say could be 40 to 50 exhibits by week's end.
The mood in the courtroom turned heavy as graphic material came up. When an officer began testifying about Kirk's arrival on campus the day he died, Kirk's family, Erika Kirk among them, quietly stood and left the room, returning later. The judge warned everyone present that disturbing footage would be shown.
Robinson has not entered a plea, and his attorneys haven't spoken to his guilt or innocence, though they've tried, so far without success, to get the death penalty taken off the table. Prosecutors allege he singled Kirk out over his politics, and they've pointed to several aggravating factors, including the danger to others in the crowd, in arguing the case qualifies for capital punishment.
Robinson surrendered the day after the shooting, roughly 33 hours after Kirk was killed, once his parents recognized him in images released by investigators and urged him to come forward.
The hearing is set to run through Friday, with more investigators and forensic experts expected to testify before Graf decides whether Robinson will stand trial.
