Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Tyler Robinson's preliminary hearing continues with video evidence from roommate Lance Twiggs.
- Erika Kirk's family requests public access to all evidence submitted since Monday.
- Defense argues video prejudices jury; judge allows redacted version in court.
PROVO — A redacted version of the much-debated video interview with Tyler Robinson's roommate, Lance Twiggs, is expected to be shown in court on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Erika Kirk and her family have formally requested that all evidence submitted since Monday be made public.
"The right 'to be present' (at the preliminary hearing) is hollow if the victim or his representative is physically in the room but is prevented from seeing the evidence the court is receiving," the attorney for the Kirk family stated in a court filing on Wednesday.
Thursday is the fourth day of Robinson's preliminary hearing. Robinson is charged with 10 crimes, the most serious being aggravated murder, in the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. A preliminary hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient probable cause to go to trial on the charges levied against a defendant.
The Utah County Attorney's Office on Wednesday introduced a video-recorded interview that prosecutors conducted with Twiggs in April. The state had planned on playing only the audio of that interview in court. Deputy county attorney Lauren Hunt argued to the court that simply "hearing the tone, the context" of Twiggs' answers is important.
But Robinson's defense team believes that playing either the audio or video of the interview in open court would violate their client's right to a fair trial by prejudicing the jury pool. Even though some of what Twiggs talks about in the video has already been publicly released, defense attorney Richard Novack says it should not be republished in the media.
Furthermore, Novack argued Wednesday that Twiggs' recorded "statement" is really just Twiggs agreeing to statements being made by prosecutors.
"They are not the statements of Mr. Twiggs," he said. "It's counsel testifying."
Novack is also concerned that the state will portray some of the messages Robinson allegedly sent Twiggs following Kirk's death as a "confession," which Novack says the defense disagrees with. And even if it were a confession, that would make it unconstitutional to play in open court, he said.
After much debate, 4th District Judge Tony Graf accepted the entire video into evidence but wants about 16 minutes of the 37-minute video redacted for courtroom use. The drawn-out debate also prompted Jeff Neiman, the attorney for Charlie Kirk's family, to address the court for the first time since the hearing began on Monday.
"The Kirk family believes strongly it should be made public for the world to see," Neiman said of the Twiggs video. "To not be transparent here will create doubt and distrust in the judicial system."
Neiman also, on Wednesday, made an official court filing requesting that "all exhibits admitted into evidence during the last three days that were not published to the courtroom be so published during the proceedings scheduled for (Thursday)."
"For 10 months, the victim's family has waited for this preliminary hearing. Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, and his grieving parents traveled to this courtroom for one reason: to be present at these proceedings and to bear witness to the evidence concerning the death of their husband and son. At certain points throughout the preliminary hearing, the Kirk family sat in the room while evidence was admitted but not presented for their viewing. They were present in body, yet denied the very thing their presence was meant to secure: their ability to meaningfully observe the preliminary hearing," the court filing states. "The victim's family's position is simple. At a minimum, every exhibit entered into evidence during the preliminary hearing must be visible to every person lawfully present in the courtroom.
A burned letter, text messages and a Discord chat by Robinson that Twiggs allegedly talks about during the interview are also expected to be submitted as evidence by prosecutors, and Robinson's defense team is expected to raise objections.
Before Wednesday's hearing began, Graf reminded both sides that the goal is to wrap up by Friday afternoon. Both the prosecution and the defense, however, still have two witnesses each they plan to call to testify.
Thursday's hearing starts at 9 a.m. Watch it livestreamed here:
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