Defence lawyers for Tyler Robinson have told a Utah court that federal ballistics experts could not match the bullet taken from Charlie Kirk's body to the rifle allegedly used in the killing at Utah Valley University on 10 September 2025, raising fresh doubts over a prosecution case that could send the 22‑year‑old to death row.
Tyler Robinson And The 'Bullet That Doesn't Match'
In a motion filed on Friday 27 March, Robinson's defence team said a summary report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that federal experts could not identify the bullet fragment recovered during Kirk's autopsy as having been fired from the Mauser Model 98 .30‑06 rifle linked to Robinson.
According to the filing, the ATF document states examiners were unable to match the autopsy fragment to that specific weapon. The defence has seized on that as potentially exculpatory, arguing that the finding undercuts the narrative of a straightforward gun‑to‑bullet chain tying Robinson directly to the fatal shot.
They also point out that, despite the ATF's reported conclusion, the FBI is now carrying out a second round of comparative bullet and lead analysis, with no public results yet.
In their motion, Robinson's lawyers argue that the forensic picture is far from complete.
'The defense team has devoted, and will continue to devote, significant resources to processing discovery, including identifying materials not yet received to inform readiness for the preliminary hearing. However, the defense team is realistic, and the comprehensive review required to determine what is missing will take hundreds of hours,' the court filing states.
The defence team also stresses the complexity of the DNA evidence. The filing notes that working out how many people contributed to a DNA mixture, and whether the FBI and ATF have 'reliably applied validated and correct scientific procedures', requires input from forensic biologists, geneticists, system engineers and statisticians. Each group, they say, must review and evaluate separate categories of material before they can give confident answers.
On that basis, they are asking for the preliminary hearing, currently listed for May, to be pushed back by six months to allow time for their experts to do that work.
A separate hearing is scheduled for 17 April on a defence bid to bar cameras from the courtroom, a move that Kirk's widow, Erika, is said to have 'vehemently' opposed. She has campaigned for public access and transparency around the evidence and has previously accused Robinson's team of 'causing undue delay'.
DNA, Death Penalty And A Widow Who Forgives Tyler Robinson
Prosecutors, for their part, insist that the case against Tyler Robinson remains strong despite the awkward ballistics detail.
They say DNA evidence taken from the Mauser rifle shows a sample 'consistent with' Robinson being on the weapon's trigger, and that his genetic material is also linked to a fired cartridge casing and two unfired cartridges recovered in the investigation.
Investigators have also obtained messages and a note in which Robinson allegedly wrote that he had an opportunity to 'take out' Charlie and that he targeted the conservative activist because he had 'had enough of his hatred'. Those alleged communications sit alongside Kirk's own record: throughout his career he frequently faced accusations of racist and hateful remarks.
Prosecutors have said they plan to pursue the death penalty.
Meanwhile, publicly, Erika has pushed hard for a speedy, open trial and criticised defence delays, yet at her husband's memorial she struck a different note altogether.
'That young man — I forgive him,' she told mourners, speaking about Robinson. 'The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love. It's always love.'
Tyler Robinson is charged with aggravated murder over the campus shooting of Turning Point USA founder and MAGA figurehead Charlie Kirk, who was speaking at Utah Valley University when he was gunned down. Prosecutors have already signalled their intention to seek the death penalty, arguing that Kirk was deliberately targeted, while the case has drawn national attention because of Kirk's prominence and the political overtones of his work as a conservative activist.
