Attorneys spent much of the third day of the preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk arguing about which evidence the public should be able to see. In the midst of hours of debate between the prosecution and the defense, the court heard from a representative for the victim, who pushed for the proceedings to be open.
Attorney Jeffrey Neiman, who said he represented the Kirk family, said they wanted all evidence admitted in court to be made public.
“I’ve been very hesitant to speak up at these proceedings… but I feel as if we need to,” Neiman said. “The Kirk family believes strongly that if evidence is being admitted in this preliminary hearing, it should be made public for the world to see.”
“To not be transparent here, to not be open, to not let the world see what happened, will create doubt and distrust in the judicial system. And that’s not what anybody wants,” he said.
During Wednesday’s court hearing in the case against Tyler Robinson, prosecutors sought to enter some of their strongest known evidence, including a recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and text messages between the two.
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Robinson is accused of shooting Kirk, an influential conservative activist who founded the organization Turning Point USA, during an event at Utah Valley University last September in front of an audience of thousands. Kirk’s widow Erika and his parents have been in the courtroom for this week’s proceedings.
The purpose of this week’s hearing, which is scheduled to last until Friday, is for Judge Tony Graf Jr. to determine whether or not there is enough evidence against Robinson for the case to proceed to trial.
The proceedings are being livestreamed for the public, despite repeated legal efforts by Robinson’s defense team to remove cameras from the courtroom. But much of Wednesday’s hearing was spent debating whether broadcasting the evidence will jeopardize Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
Prosecutors on Wednesday called state investigator Brian Davis to the stand to testify about what happened after Robinson turned himself in to authorities. During his testimony, the prosecution played a very brief clip of video showing Robinson at the sheriff’s office after he surrendered – which had no audio as requested by the defense team.
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Davis testified he and other law enforcement officers interviewed Robinson, his parents, and his roommate. When prosecutors went on to try to publicize additional evidence during the investigator’s testimony, the defense team objected. The remaining hours of the court proceeding were spent debating what should be made public.
Ultimately, Graf said prosecutors should redact portions of the evidence before it can be publicized. Prosecutors said they would make the edits before court resumes on Thursday.
