Charlie Kirk murder: Suspect Tyler Robinson declines to testify at preliminary hearing, will resume Sept. 1

The week-long preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk concluded Friday with prosecutors presenting evidence against Tyler Robinson to proceed to a trial.  Robinson declined to testify at the hearing.

The hearing will resume on Sept. 1, when prosecutors and the defense will make their final arguments to State District Judge Tony Graf.  The long break is intended to give the attorneys time to write legal briefs.

Charlie Kirk’s family releases a statement shortly after the court session ends

Charlie Kirk’s family released a statement shortly after the court session ended Friday expressing gratitude for the support and prayers offered to them.

RELATED: Charlie Kirk's family: Who are his wife, kids, parents?

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives testifies about DNA testing 

On Friday, Caitlin Oliver, a forensic biologist at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said under cross-examination that testing on swabs taken from several parts of the rifle and ammunition supports the conclusion that the DNA found was primarily contributed by Tyler Robinson.

DNA from more than one person was found on some of the items, Oliver told Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride. The testing also looks for the highest concentration of the DNA found on an item in order to help determine the "major contributor" of that DNA profile.

The DNA samples on some parts of the rifle were at least 1 trillion times more likely to have been contributed by Tyler Robinson and one other unrelated person, than they were to have been contributed by two unknown, unrelated people, Oliver said.

Defense attorney Richard Novak asked Oliver about industry recommendations for describing DNA results, ways DNA samples are extracted and different testing methods. Oliver said her lab uses "likelihood ratios" and doesn’t definitively conclude that a person’s DNA was on an object.

"So from a scientific standpoint, you couldn’t ... blast a headline in the media, ‘Mr. Robinson’s DNA found on this item,’?" Novak asked.

Correct, Oliver said.

At Friday's hearing Robinson’s lawyers plan to call a final witness as they try to raise doubts about the prosecution’s case. The defense has previously challenged the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body and fought the release of a recorded interview with Robinson’s roommate, Lance Twiggs, as well as chat room messages Robinson wrote on Discord.

After testimony in the preliminary hearing ends Friday, State District Judge Tony Graf will rule whether prosecutors have shown enough evidence to proceed to trial. But a decision from Graf won’t come immediately. 

Attorneys on both sides say they’d like the benefit of seeing the court transcript of the preliminary hearing and want to submit written briefs arguing whether probable cause had been met for the case to proceed to trial. 

That will take weeks to play out. Graf set oral arguments on the evidence presented in the preliminary hearing for Sept. 1.

Judge denies Robinson's defense demand to remove broadcast cameras from courtroom, but issues sanction

Judge Graf denied a motion by Robinson's defense team to ban broadcast cameras from the courtroom during the preliminary hearing but issued a sanction.

Defense attorneys for Robinson asked Graf to ban broadcast cameras from the courtroom after briefly displaying a piece of evidence that wasn't authorized to be used by media outside the courtroom.

While Graf didn't ban broadcast cameras from the courtroom, he said the media could no longer capture or broadcast evidence shown in court on Friday.

"Effective immediately, members of the media shall no longer capture or broadcast any exhibits displayed by the parties during today's proceedings. The court finds this sanction to be proportional and appropriate in light of the violation of the court's prior order," Graf said.

The backstory:

Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder for the killing of Kirk. Kirk was speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 people on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem when investigators say Robinson fired a single shot from a building about 140 yards away, striking Kirk, 31, and killing him. 

Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted. 

Crime and Public Safety