A photograph of Robinson’s note he left for Twiggs at his desk was accidentally played for the media, showing Robinson confessing to killing Kirk.
Day four of the preliminary hearing of Tyler Robinson, the man charged with killing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, took place on Thursday, with exhibits shown including the highly anticipated video of Lance Twiggs’ interview with prosecutors, talk on DNA evidence left on evidence gathered at the scene, as well as text messages between Robinson and Twiggs. Friday is set to be the final day of the hearing after which Judge Tony Graf will determine if there is probable cause to try Robinson for the crime.
Ruling on Kirk Family Motion
Thursday’s hearing opened with Judge Graf considering a motion from an attorney representing the Kirk family, demanding transparency in the preliminary hearing. The attorney said that the court should allow the display of all exhibits entered into evidence to those within the courtroom. Graf ultimately ruled that he would be moving forward under the existing procedure, with each exhibit being considered for admission, being considered for display within the courtroom, and being considered for publication to the media via the cameras in the courtroom.
An attorney representing the news media once again stressed that as much of the court proceedings should be seen by the public, calling it a “maximalist” approach, but said he recognized “the importance of protecting all the rights, including fair trial rights, but the idea of publishing something, of keeping something off of the cameras at the rear of the courtroom, but publishing it to those who are present here also is a meaningful step towards transparency.”
Agent Brian Davis
Utah State Bureau of Investigation agent Brian Davis returned on Thursday for continued testimony, during which the highly anticipated video of Lance Twiggs’ interview with prosecutors was played. His time on the stand also saw the prosecution bring forth text messages between Robinson and Twiggs following the shooting.
In the video testimony, portions of which were redacted, Twiggs told prosecutors that he first met Robinson in person in 2023, but had known him longer than that. He said that around two or three months into Robinson moving in, the two began dating. During the interview, he said that about a month before the shooting Robinson had asked him for a Dremel tool, saying that he wanted to engrave some bullets for a hunting trip with his family.
Twiggs also spoke on seeing Robinson following the shooting, saying that Robinson was “walking around a lot,” and that Robinson “didn’t go into detail” as to what happened. “I just asked him in person if what he said was true the night before, and he said it was.” Twiggs said Robinson was “crying a little bit, and said he wishes he hadn’t done it, and then kept going around and just doing stuff I think to keep himself busy or distracted.”
Twiggs was also shown images released by the FBI in the wake of the shooting of the sought suspect, and Twiggs said that he wasn’t 100 percent certain, “but that looks like him,” saying that the final two photos “definitely do look like him.”
Twiggs also said that Robinson talked more about politics than he did, and that “usually, if he did talk about politics stuff, it was relating to Trump or current, like, policies being issued or voted on.”
Davis also read out text messages that were sent between Robinson and Twiggs on the day of the shooting. Photos of the text messages were taken from Twiggs’ phone. Among the messages was one in which Twiggs wrote, “You weren’t the one who did it right????”
Robinson replied, “I am, I’m sorry.”
Robinson was later asked why he “did it,” with Robinson saying, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.” He claimed to have been planning it “a bit over a week.”
Robinson texted with Twiggs about attempting to retrieve the rifle he left behind at the scene, how a cop car had been parked near him, and how he was worried about prints being left on the gun. He later said that he was turning himself in to authorities.
A Discord channel that Robinson was a part of was also entered into evidence in Thursday’s hearing. Robinson’s username was tyler/ikum. The messages were obtained as part of a subpoena sent to Discord. The first message entered into evidence was sent just before 8 pm on September 11. Davis said that Robinson turned himself in at the Washington County Sheriff’s Department around an hour later. Around one minute of the interview during which Triggs spoke about the on discussions of the Discord chat was muted when it was played in court.
Also introduced during Davis’ time on the stand was a photo of the handwritten letter Twiggs was directed to find underneath Robinson’s keyboard on the night of the 10th. A photograph of the letter was obtained through a search of Twiggs’ phone. Twiggs said he did not see the letter again after he found it and photographed it. The burned remains of it were found in the trash. Around five minutes of audio on this topic were muted when played in the courtroom.
The defense did not cross examine Davis.
Sergeant Jennifer Faumina
Jennifer Faumina, a sergeant with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation, returned to the stand on Thursday afternoon after testifying briefly on Tuesday. Faumina had been assigned to oversee the crime scenes and physical evidence related to the Charlie Kirk killing.
During her testimony, Faumina spoke on the rifle that was found wrapped in a towel in the wooded area near campus in some bushes. She said the rifle was pulled from the bushes and photographed both with the towel wrapped around it as it was found and separately. She said the gun was a bolt action rifle. She said that a fired cartridge case, as well as three unfired bullets, were found with engravings on them.
Photos of the bullets with engravings were shown in the courtroom. Messages included “notices bulge,” hey fascist, catch,” Bella Ciao,” and “If you read this, you are gay, LMAO.”
She said she oversaw the execution of search warrants at Robinson’s residence as well as the home of his parents. At Robinson’s residence, Faumina said a Dremel tool and its bits were collected, as well as two boxes of Remington .30-06 ammunition, and two pairs of Converse shoes. She said a cartridge casing with the words “test shot” was recovered from Robinson’s bedroom, as well as multiple shooting targets. She said the Dremel tool was found in a closet in the residence’s first floor.
She also said a burnt note was found in the trash at Robinson’s residence, which had writing on it. During her testimony, a photograph of Robinson’s note he left for Twiggs at his desk, was accidentally played for the media, showing Robinson confessing to killing Kirk. It had not been intended for the public.
Faumina also spoke on DNA testing results that she received on a number of pieces of evidence. Multiple sections of the rifle found in the woods were swabbed, returning results that said it was extremely likely that Robinson was a contributor. DNA evidence returned from the Dremel tool, as well as cartridges, also matched with Robinson.
ATF forensic examiner Samantha Carner
Testifying as a witness for the defense on Thursday was Samantha Carner, a forensic firearm and toolmark examiner at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). She testified about testing that she conducted on the gun used in Kirk’s killing, cartridges, and bullet fragments.
She said she received “a firearm cartridge case, three cartridges, one bullet jacket fragment, and four lead fragments. I was asked to test fire the firearm,” she said, “and compare the test fires to the cartridge case and the bullet jacket fragment. I also was asked to do a tool mark characterization on the cartridge case and the cartridges, and then I also ran a general rifling characteristic search on the bullet jacket fragment.”
She spoke on the technical process of testing the bullet jacket fragment, saying that when she looks at such an exhibit, she looks at class characteristics, which are “design features that are given to a large group of items that characterize them together,” subclass characteristics, which are “more restricted than class, but less than individual, and they are design features that can be put on an object during the manufacturing process,” and individual characteristics, which are “imperfections and irregularities that arise from the manufacturing process,” or things that come from the “wear, use, and abuse of a tool.”
She said the lead fragments were not suitable for a microscopic comparison, and concluded in her report that the bullet jacket “could not be identified or excluded as having been fired” from the gun used in the shooting. She said that the conclusion meant she was unable to say “one way or another” whether the bullet did or did not come from the gun.
The defense repeatedly asked Carner about points of dissimilarity between the given fragments and the bullets that were test fired from the gun at the lab. Carner said that while there was agreement in some areas, there was also some disagreement, “but there was also a lot of lack of microscopic marks of value to see at all.”
“So because of this lack of quality and quantity of marks to be able to see, it never reached the threshold of sufficient agreement nor sufficient disagreement. So an identification or exclusion could not be rendered.”