Defense objects to video appearing to show Charlie Kirk's alleged killer at shooting scene
Tyler Robinson's attorney says the video will likely prejudice the jury pool.
A video compilation that prosecutors say shows conservative activist Charlie Kirk's alleged killer's movements on the campus of Utah Valley University before and after the shooting played in court on Tuesday over the vigorous objections of defense attorneys.
Attorneys for the defendant, Tyler James Robinson, 23, argued that the video footage Judge Tony Graf allowed prosecutors to play publicly at Robinson's preliminary hearing will likely taint a potential jury pool.
"We think this video is going to play a big role in the trial," Robinson's lead attorney, Kathryn Nester, told Graf during the second day of the multi-day hearing.
Defense attorney Michael Burt argued that making the video compilation public will likely prevent Robinson from getting a fair trial.
But prosecutors prevailed in their argument that the public had the right to see the video to get a clear understanding of the evidence Graf had reviewed in private.
The video compilation not only appears to put Robinson at the scene of the crime, but it also appears to track nearly every movement he allegedly made on campus, including climbing on and jumping off the roof where the fatal shot was fired, according to prosecutors.
Graf will decide if prosecutors have established probable cause to warrant a trial for Robinson. Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson goes to trial and is convicted in the September 2025 killing of Kirk during an open-air rally on the Orem, Utah, campus.
The compilation of raw video footage was taken from security cameras on the university campus, Sgt. David Hull of the Utah Department of Public Safety testified on Tuesday.
Graf also ruled that an enhanced version of the same video compilation featuring zoomed-in portions allegedly showing Robinson lying in a prone position on the roof of the UVU Losee Center, where the shot was fired, would not be made public at the preliminary hearing.
Utah prosecutors said the video is part of a mountain of evidence against Robinson
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the conservative youth movement Turning Point USA and a strong ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, while holding the first stop of his "The American Comeback Tour."
Kirk was at an amphitheater on the UVU campus taking a question about gun violence in America when a single shot rang out from a distance away, hitting him in the left side of his neck.
For the second day in a row, Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, attended the hearing, along with President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., who was friends with Kirk.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Sgt. Hull said that on the day of the shooting, Robinson was seen on video making at least three visits to the campus in a car and on foot.
Hull testified that the campus officer, using what he described as "cop intuition," took down the license plate number of Robinson's car, which he said later helped investigators identify Robinson as the suspect in the shooting.
Hull testified that Robinson allegedly made a fourth visit to the campus hours after the shooting, around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2025, and was stopped by a campus police officer.
One of the videos in the compilation allegedly showed Robinson walking into a wooded area near the campus and reemerging on campus, apparently after changing his clothes, Hull testified. Police later said they discovered the rifle used in the shooting, a Mauser .30-06, in the same wooded area where Robinson was seen going to and from.
Another video apparently captured Robinson walking with a limp up a staircase leading to the roof of the Losee Center. Investigators have previously alleged that Robinson had concealed the weapon in his pant leg as he headed to where he allegedly shot Kirk.
Robinson surrendered to authorities on the night of Sept. 11, 2025, after his father contacted law enforcement officials and told them he recognized his son in photographs of the suspect released by authorities, officials said.
The defendant has been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.
Robinson has yet to enter a plea to the charges, and his attorneys have not issued any statements on his guilt or innocence.
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