Tyler Robinson seeks to keep cameras out of courtroom, citing Trump social media post

PROVO — Tyler Robinson is once again asking the judge in his case to not allow cameras in the courtroom during his next hearing.

This time, he's citing a message from President Donald Trump as his reason.

In September, Robinson, 23, was bound over to stand trial on seven charges, including aggravated murder, after allegedly shooting conservative political activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, during a Turning Point USA rally on the campus. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

One of the next steps in Robinson's case is to set trial dates. At Robinson's last hearing on Oct. 23, 4th District Judge Tony Graf hoped to set a soft trial schedule but instead scheduled another hearing for Nov. 9.

Robinson's attorneys say they will need three years to properly prepare for trial, which they estimate will last seven months. Prosecutors anticipate a 4-month trial and say they'll be ready to go by January 2028.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to block a still news photographer from taking pictures at the Oct. 23 hearing, once again arguing that their client's right to a fair trial is threatened by the extraordinary public interest Robinson's case has generated worldwide.

For the upcoming hearing on Nov. 9, Robinson and his attorneys concede the hearing "is largely administrative."

"Its purpose is for the court to announce and set a litigation and hearing schedule," a motion filed to exclude electronic media from the hearing states. "There will be no witness testimony, presentation of evidence, or argument on the merits of any substantive issue. Any resultant scheduling order will be publicly accessible, and the proceeding will remain open to the public and members of the press, who may attend and report on it."

However, Robinson says requests by the media for both pictures to be taken and for the hearing to be live-streamed create "adverse effects" that are "particularly significant given the extraordinary public interest in a trial date for this case."

As an example, Robinson's defense team cites in their court filing a message posted by President Trump on social media prior to the Oct. 23 hearing:

"The judge in the Charlie Kirk case is doing a terrible job! This case should be tried within a month, not three years — and it should be over with! The judge is desecrating the memory of the great Charlie Kirk, while taking forever to ask questions that people already know the answer to. The whole country is mocking him and our 'legal' system,'" Trump posted, followed by "Justice for Charlie" in all capital letters.

"The president's post only heightens the prejudicial impact of electronic media coverage at the Nov. 9 hearing. Electronic recording and transmission, particularly through video coverage and live-streaming, create an unnecessary risk that statements made by the court and counsel will be disseminated outside the context of the case-management discussion in which they are made. Such out-of-context statements provide unnecessary ammunition for public commentary, including by politicians, that risks exerting undue pressure on the proceedings. Even still photography creates risks of prejudicial dissemination and out-of-context interpretation," the defense argued in its motion. "Those risks are substantially magnified by video coverage and live-streaming, particularly where the subject of the hearing—the trial date—has already generated extraordinary public and political attention."

Robinson has previously pointed to statements and social media posts by Trump and other prominent politicians as reasons to exclude cameras and microphones from the courtroom to ensure a fair trial.

"The president of the United States, the vice president, the attorney general, the governor of the state of Utah, the county attorney, law enforcement officials, and the electronic media have all condemned Mr. Robinson before his trial has even begun," a motion filed earlier this year seeking to ban electronic media coverage argues. "The president has told a nationwide audience that 'with a high degree of certainty, we have him,' that 'I hope he is going to be found guilty,' that 'I hope he gets the death penalty,' that 'The depraved assassin who planned and executed Charlie's killing has been arrested and charged with capital murder,' and that 'God willing, he will receive the full and ultimate punishment for his horrific crime.'

"From the outset of this tragic case and continuing up to the present, many electronic media outlets, politicians and others have used the case to advance outlandish conspiracy theories and political agendas," the defense argued in the motion.

Erika Kirk, Charlie's widow, and her attorney recently renewed their request for a speedy trial and called the defense team's proposed schedule "grossly out of line" with other similar Utah murder cases where defendants went to trial within one or two years.

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