Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin — now facing death penalty — makes his first court appearance

Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin — 22-year-old Tyler Robinson — made his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon in Utah.

During the virtual hearing, Robinson was briefly seen on video wearing what appeared to be a bulletproof vest. The only words Robinson spoke were his full name in response to the judge’s request for him to state it: “Tyler James Robinson.”

‘I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.’

The judge noted that he reviewed Robinson’s financial status declaration, found the defendant “indigent,” and would assign an attorney to represent him. The judge also said Robinson would remain in custody with no bail.

A trial team representative stated that a pretrial protective order was submitted on behalf of Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk; the judge granted that request. The trial team representative added that it had just submitted to the court a notice of the state’s intent to seek the death penalty against Robinson.

The judge then read the charges against Robinson, which Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray formally brought against the suspect just two hours prior.

Those charges include aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury. Gray in his earlier news conference Tuesday said the state is alleging in regard to the latter two charges “aggravating factors” because it’s believed that Robinson “targeted” Kirk because of the TPUSA founder’s “political expression” and knew that children were present at the scene and would “witness the homicide.”

RELATED: Utah County attorney formally charges Charlie Kirk’s suspected assassin

Photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images

The other charges include:

• One count of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, for “moving and concealing the rifle used in the shooting.”
• One count of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, for “disposing [of] the clothing he wore during the shooting.”
• One count of witness tampering, a third-degree felony, for directing his roommate to “delete his incriminating texts.”
• One count of witness tampering, a third-degree felony, for directing his roommate to “stay silent if police questioned him.”
• One count of commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child, a Class A misdemeanor, for “committing homicide knowing that children were present and may have seen or heard the murder and did so” based on Kirk’s “political expression.”

RELATED: Explosive alleged text messages between suspected Kirk killer and his transgender roommate obliterate liberal narrative

After the judge read the charges against Robinson, he soon declared the hearing in recess. The judge earlier stated that the next hearing — which also will be virtual — is set for 10 a.m. Sept. 29.

Blaze News previously reported that Gray also stated that Robinson texted his transgender roommate and told him to drop everything to look at a note he had left under his keyboard. According to charging documents, the note read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.”

Gray also confirmed that Robinson had begun to date his biologically male roommate, who had begun transitioning to female. An alleged text chain between Robinson and his roommate also appears to undermine a left-wing narrative about a possible motive that painted Robinson as right-wing due to his family connections.

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