Utah judge sets June 2028 jury selection in Charlie Kirk killing

A Utah judge has set a summer 2028 trial for Tyler Robinson, the 23-year-old accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university event. Jury selection will begin June 21, 2028, Judge Tony Graf ruled Monday.

The trial will remain in Provo, Utah, and begin in early July, The Guardian reported. Robinson has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and six related offenses. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Kirk was speaking to a crowd of several thousand at Utah Valley University when he was shot. Prosecutors say Robinson fired from a campus rooftop and harbored grievances against Kirk’s political views, particularly his criticism of gay rights, according to The Guardian. Robinson turned himself in the day after the shooting at his family’s urging, NBC News reported.

The trial date followed competing proposals. Utah County prosecutors said they expected proceedings to last 17 weeks and could be ready by October 2027. They proposed a January 31, 2028, start to avoid holding the trial during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, NBC News reported, citing The Associated Press. Robinson’s lawyers sought a 2029 trial, saying they needed more time to review evidence and prepare their case. Attorneys for Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, pushed for an earlier date and called the defense proposal “absurd.”

In a filing quoted by NBC News from an Associated Press report, Erika Kirk’s attorney Jeffrey Neiman wrote that Kirk’s children, who were one and three when he was killed, would be six and eight by the time a trial under the defense’s proposed schedule concluded. “They will face the uncertainty of this criminal proceeding longer than they had their father in their lives,” he wrote.

Graf said both sides need sufficient time to examine tens of thousands of evidence files, including about eight million digital artifacts totaling roughly 3.3 terabytes of data. Jury and setting selection must also proceed at a pace that allows thorough vetting, he said. Graf reserved 105 court days for the trial and ordered monthly pretrial status conferences.

The timeline is intended to protect the constitutional rights of Robinson and Erika Kirk and ensure both are treated “with the dignity and respect they are due,” Graf wrote. Citing Robinson’s right to a speedy trial, he added: “Given Mr. Robinson’s current status, unnecessary delay remains a serious concern.”

According to The Guardian, Robinson also faces two witness-tampering counts over allegations that he told his former roommate not to cooperate with police and to delete incriminating texts, as well as two obstruction-of-justice counts. At a preliminary hearing, the court watched a redacted video in which the former roommate, Lance Twiggs, told investigators that Robinson had expressed regret. “He wishes he hadn’t done it,” Twiggs said in the video. Robinson’s lawyers questioned the evidence for prosecutors’ proposed political motive and scrutinized forensic evidence indicating Robinson’s DNA was on a towel wrapped around a firearm, the newspaper reported.