Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, was back in court on Friday as his defense team suffered another setback.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. denied Robinson’s motion to stay the case until his defense appeals the judge’s earlier ruling to deny their motion to bar cameras from the courtroom.
Judge Graf rules that pretrial publicity does not automatically create an unfair trial, as U.S. Supreme Court precedent has established.
But he said Robinson’s lawyers have not demonstrated a specific threat of harm or a “realistic likelihood of prejudice.”
“Electronic coverage and pre-trial publicity are things that you consider, but that doesn’t mean that Robinson’s preliminary hearing should be delayed any further,” Graf said.
Utah prosecutors are also asking the judge in the case of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin to deny a defense motion to again delay a preliminary hearing nearly nine months after the suspect’s arrest.
Attorneys for Tyler Robinson, 22, have asked Judge Tony Graf Jr. to delay the routine hearing while they appeal his rejection of their motion to ban news cameras from the high-profile case.
“Defendant cannot show that a stay is necessary to prevent additional prejudice from media coverage of his preliminary hearing, when this Court has already found that he failed to show that a public preliminary hearing would prejudice him at all,” Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard wrote in a court filing Saturday.
Robinson’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court and then asked Graf to push back the hearing while they await a response.
“Nor can Defendant show that he is likely to prevail on appeal (assuming one is granted), or that a stay is not adverse to the public interest in the prompt disposition of criminal trials,” Ballard said.
“Moreover, there is no need for this Court to stay the proceedings pending disposition of the petition for interlocutory appeal. If the Utah Supreme Court concludes that such a stay is warranted, that court can stay the proceedings,” Ballard added.
Robinson was arrested in September 2025 in connection with the assassination of Charlie Kirk at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University.
Ballard said much of the evidence prosecutors plan to present has already been made public and the Robinson defense has not shown a “realistic likelihood of prejudice” if the hearing were open to the public.
The preliminary hearing, which is an early stage of many criminal cases, has not yet taken place, and Robinson has not yet entered a plea.
During the hearing, prosecutors must establish probable cause to arrest the defendant, which then moves the case forward to trial.
The hearing was pushed back from the week of May 16 to the week of July 6.
To obtain a stay in a Utah criminal case, the defense must generally demonstrate a likelihood of success on appeal, a likelihood of “irreparable harm” that exceeds harm to any other party, and that the stay “is not adverse to the public interest,” Ballard’s filing says.
He said Robinson’s lawyers have failed to meet any of those standards.
“Defendant must satisfy all three elements,” he wrote. “He hasn’t satisfied even one. In fact, he ignores this rule.”
Not only do delays hurt the prosecution, Ballard argued, they also hurt Erika Kirk, Charlie’s widow and the designated victim’s advocate in the case. She has invoked the victim’s right to a speedy trial under Utah law.
Attorneys for two groups of media outlets, one of which includes Fox News and Fox News Digital, are also expected to file a response to Robinson’s appeal this week.
In a separate, 51-page filing, Robinson’s defense also asked the judge to block hearsay testimony at the hearing, arguing that Utah laws that permit it are unconstitutional.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
