Seven months after the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, the man accused of killing him still hasn't entered a plea, and he now wants the cameras turned off. Tyler Robinson, 22, will appear in a Utah courtroom on Friday as his lawyers ask a judge to bar news cameras from future proceedings, arguing heavy media and social media coverage could taint the jury, per Fox News. Judge Tony Graf has allowed at least one camera at the hearing with certain restrictions, including no shots of Robinson's family. Media groups and Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, who's serving as the victim's representative, are pressing for continued visual access, citing the public's right to observe the case.
Robinson's team is bringing in social psychologist Bryan Edelman, who has worked on other high-profile trials, to testify about publicity's impact on jurors. Robinson is accused of climbing onto a rooftop at Utah Valley University during a Turning Point USA event in September and firing a single shot from his grandfather's rifle, fatally striking Kirk in the neck before fleeing. Prosecutors say gravel impressions and the recovered rifle support a sniper-style attack and cite texts in which Robinson allegedly wrote about needing to "grab my rifle" after the attack.
Meanwhile, TMZ reports on what it says could be "the biggest blow yet" to Robinson's defense: a newly unsealed forensics report that says a bullet fragment retrieved during Kirk's autopsy matches the caliber of bullet that would've come from the Mauser rifle recovered near the scene of the shooting, which authorities say Robinson used to kill Kirk. Per KSL, Robinson's defense team also filed a motion on Wednesday to hold state prosecutors in contempt for allegedly breaching a gag order in the case. Robinson faces an aggravated murder charge that could bring the death penalty; a repeatedly delayed preliminary hearing is set for May, per Fox.
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