A five-day preliminary hearing got underway this week in Provo, where the state is working to establish before a judge that Tyler Robinson, 23, committed the Sept. 10, 2025, killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University and should answer for it at trial.
Called as the prosecution's first witness, former Utah Valley University officer Christopher Bagley described heading to an adjacent rooftop shortly after the gunshot, where gravel bore an impression suggesting a person had been lying flat with a direct line of sight toward the spot where Kirk had been addressing the crowd. "You've got markings of elbows, knees and feet," Bagley told the court, according to the Los Angeles Times. Security camera footage reviewed in court showed an individual on that same rooftop moving toward a vantage point above the event while gripping what appeared to be a "long, black object"; after the shot rang out, the figure fled and descended from the building's edge, according to CNN.
At the hearing's second session, video evidence prosecutors said documented Robinson's whereabouts on campus before and after the shooting was presented to the court, including footage of an exchange between Robinson and a law enforcement officer during the search for Kirk's killer, according to The New York Times.
Among the evidence the state intends to lay before the court: DNA material prosecutors contend ties Robinson to the rifle — a bolt-action Mauser found wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near campus — as well as autopsy results, statements from witnesses, and a recorded deposition from the man who shared Robinson's apartment and had been in a romantic relationship with him. Robinson also allegedly wrote to the roommate explaining his motive — that Kirk had spread too much hatred — before telling the roommate to erase the conversation and refuse to speak to investigators without an attorney, according to CNN.
Robinson faces charges including aggravated murder, felony use of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. He has not yet entered a plea. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Robinson's attorneys have also mounted ongoing challenges to the admissibility of evidence and have argued that the volume of press attention surrounding the case threatens their client's ability to receive an impartial jury, according to CNN.
The preliminary hearing carries a lower evidentiary threshold than a trial. When the hearing wraps up, Judge Tony Graf will rule on whether the evidence clears the probable cause threshold; a finding that it does would trigger Robinson's arraignment and his first opportunity to enter formal pleas, according to the Los Angeles Times.