A Utah judge denied an effort by Tyler Robinson’s lawyers to have his former roommate and lover be subpoenaed to testify at next month’s preliminary hearing ahead of Robinson’s trial for allegedly killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Judge Tony Graf denied two motions by Robinson’s lawyers in a Utah County court Monday, including one to have Lance Twiggs testify in person at the July hearing and another to block hearsay evidence from the upcoming hearing. Graf said in his ruling from the bench that, because of the lower bar for the preliminary hearing, hearsay evidence would be allowed to be used by the prosecution against Robinson to establish probable cause.
“The preliminary hearing is limited to determining probable cause and is not a discovery device. The state is constitutionally permitted to rely on reliable hearsay to establish probable cause,” Graf said, noting the “limited purpose” of the preliminary hearing. “The record presently before the court that the proposed examination is directed primarily toward credibility, bias, reliability, impeachment, rather than toward evidence likely to negate probable cause.”
Graf did not issue a ruling on a pending motion from Robinson’s lawyers to sanction prosecutors for comments they made about the case to the media. One of the proposed sanctions from Robinson’s lawyers would remove the possibility of the death penalty. The Utah judge said he would issue a ruling on that motion on Friday.
The preliminary hearing ahead of the murder trial is scheduled for July 6 to 10. Last week, prosecutors said in a court filing that they had given Twiggs limited immunity for a recorded statement given to authorities in April.
JUDGE GIVES TYLER ROBINSON’S LOVER LIMITED IMMUNITY IN CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION CASE
During the trial, Robinson will face multiple charges for his alleged assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus in September 2025. The maximum punishment for the charges against Robinson includes the death penalty, which prosecutors have said they intend to pursue.
Robinson’s trial is expected to be one of the most closely watched criminal cases of the year, after the public killing of Kirk sent shockwaves through politics last year. Authorities say Robinson had claimed Kirk spread “too much hate,” and that his family said Robinson had espoused increasingly left-wing views, including on transgender ideology, in recent years.
