{"id":138427,"date":"2026-07-10T07:47:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-latest-defense-lawyers-question-reliability-of-evidence-in-killing-of-charlie-kirk\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:47:58","slug":"the-latest-defense-lawyers-question-reliability-of-evidence-in-killing-of-charlie-kirk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/the-latest-defense-lawyers-question-reliability-of-evidence-in-killing-of-charlie-kirk\/","title":{"rendered":"The Latest: Defense lawyers question reliability of evidence in killing of Charlie Kirk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An
An image of a bullet casing engraved with the word "Catch!" is displayed during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A weeklong preliminary hearing<\/a> concludes Friday for the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk<\/a>. Prosecutors aim to show they have enough evidence against Tyler Robinson to proceed to a trial.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Robinson is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination<\/a> of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Robinson\u2019s lawyers plan to call a final witness as they try to raise doubts about the prosecution\u2019s case. The defense has previously challenged the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk\u2019s body and fought the release of a recorded interview<\/a> with Robinson\u2019s roommate<\/a>, Lance Twiggs, as well as chat room messages Robinson wrote on Discord.<\/p>\n

There are only 14 seats for the public in the courtroom<\/strong><\/p>\n

People have been lining up early \u2014 sometimes sleeping outside the doors overnight<\/a> \u2014 in hopes of getting a wristband for a seat in the courthouse this week. Only 14 wristbands are given out each day, on a first-come, first-served basis.<\/p>\n

Chris Palmer, the court\u2019s director of security, warned Thursday morning that tents and other camping supplies won\u2019t be allowed as people seek a seat for the final day of the hearing Friday. He also warned against jumping in line or saving spots for someone else.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, court security said it discovered some people had bought colored wristbands to try to sneak in.<\/p>\n

Defense tries to sow doubt about ballistics evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Tyler Robinson\u2019s attorneys, Michael Burt, tried to inject doubt into the prosecution\u2019s case by challenging the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

Authorities sought to tie the fragment to the suspected murder weapon, but the results were inconclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying anything but inconclusive was inappropriate,\u201d said Samantha Karner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n

The defense earlier in the week had questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that investigators said linked Robinson to the scene. Experts say the science behind DNA testing is sound.<\/p>\n

Robinson\u2019s attorneys plan to have a second person from ATF testify Friday.<\/p>\n

The prosecution ended its presentation Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Testimony in five-day preliminary hearing wraps Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n

After testimony in the preliminary<\/a> 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\u2019t come immediately.<\/p>\n

Attorneys on both sides say they\u2019d like the benefit of seeing the court transcript of the preliminary hearing and want to submit written briefs before Graf weighs in.<\/p>\n

That will take weeks to play out. Graf set oral arguments on the evidence presented in the preliminary hearing for Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Graf tends not to make immediate rulings.<\/p>\n

\"Tyler
Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, watches a computer screen during testimony about comparison testing of bullets during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Charlie
Charlie Kirk's parents, Kathryn, left, and Robert Kirk leave the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026, after a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. (AP Photo\/Ty ONeil)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ty ONeil)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Judge
Judge Tony Graf speaks during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Brandi
Brandi Siciliani, right, and Billie Webb, second right, wait in line to get access to the limited public seating available at a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, in Provo, Utah, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ty ONeil)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Ty ONeil)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An image of a bullet casing engraved with the word "Catch!" is displayed during a preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool)(AP Photo\/Spenser Heaps, Pool) A weeklong preliminary hearing concludes Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138427"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}