An attorney for the 22-year-old man charged with killing Charlie Kirk asked a judge on Monday for more time to review the large amount of evidence in the case before deciding if the defense will seek a preliminary hearing.
A preliminary hearing would determine if there is enough evidence against Tyler Robinson to go forward with a trial. Defendants can waive that step, but Robinson’s newly appointed attorney Kathryn Nester said her team did not intend to do so.
Utah prosecutors have charged Robinson with aggravated murder and plan to seek the death penalty.
The defense and prosecution acknowledged at a brief hearing on Monday that the amount of evidence prosecutors have is “voluminous”. Robinson was not present for the hearing and appeared via audio from jail at his defense team’s request.
Judge Tony Graf set the next hearing for 30 October.
Defense attorneys for Robinson and prosecutors with the Utah county attorney’s office declined to comment after Monday’s hearing. It took place in Provo, just a few miles from the Utah Valley University campus in Orem where many students are still processing trauma from the 10 September shooting and the day-and-a-half search for the suspect.
Authorities arrested Robinson when he arrived with his parents at his hometown sheriff’s office in south-west Utah, more than a three-hour drive from the site of the shooting, to turn himself in. Prosecutors have since revealed incriminating text messages and DNA evidence that they say connect Robinson to the killing.
A note that Robinson had left for his romantic partner before the shooting said he had the opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices, “and I’m going to take it”, Utah county attorney Jeff Gray told reporters before the first hearing. Gray also said that Robinson wrote in a text about Kirk to his partner: “I had enough of his hatred.”
The assassination of Kirk, a close ally of Donald Trump who worked to steer young voters toward conservatism, has galvanized Republicans who have vowed to carry on Kirk’s mission of moving American politics further to the right.
Trump has declared Kirk a “martyr” for freedom and threatened to crack down on what he called the “radical left”.
Workers across the country have been punished or fired for speaking out about Kirk after his death, including teachers, public and private employees and media personalities – most notably Jimmy Kimmel, who had his late-night show suspended then reinstated by ABC.
Kirk’s political organization, Arizona-based Turning Point USA, brought young, evangelical Christians into politics through his podcast, social media and campus events. Many prominent Republicans are filling in at the upcoming campus events Kirk was meant to attend, including Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, and Senator Mike Lee at Utah State University on Tuesday.
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