Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with prosecutors who said they had “a mountain of evidence” that defendant Tyler Robinson fatally shot the conservative activist as he spoke to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University last September.
Robinson pleaded not guilty to all counts, including aggravated murder, following Graf’s decision. The 23-year-old defendant turned himself in a day after the shooting, and his lawyers have not offered alternative theories for Kirk’s death.
The defense team tried to block a trial or at least take the death penalty off the table, arguing that prosecutors failed to show Kirk’s shooting placed others around him at risk of death. That’s an aggravating factor under state law that makes Robinson eligible for capital punishment.
Kirk's family called the ruling “an important step in our family’s pursuit of justice.”
“Every step in this process carries the weight of all that Charlie’s murder has taken from his family, especially his children who will grow up without their father,” they said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Robinson shot Kirk from a rooftop more than 400 feet away, knowing he could have missed and killed others at the open-air event.
“Tyler James Robinson shot and killed Charlie Kirk because he disagreed with him, and he did it by firing a high-powered rifle into a crowd of over 3,000 people, which created a great risk of death that anyone would know about,” said Ryan McBride, a prosecutor with the Utah County Attorney’s Office.
Graf had the option to send the case to trial on a lesser charge of murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison. He said his decision to approve the aggravated murder charge was based on the positions of several people in and around a tent where Kirk was speaking, among other factors.
