Alleged Charlie Kirk ASSASSIN Tyler Robinson faces Erika Kirk in court as Preliminary Trial Begins

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Utah, where a week-long preliminary hearing is now underway for Tyler Robinson. He's the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. That was last September. Prosecutors are working to show they have enough evidence against Robinson to proceed to trial. Robinson, charged with aggravated murder, has not entered a plea. With more, [00:00:23] Speaker 2: we are joined by criminal defense attorney Alexandra Kazariot. Alexandra, good to have you with us. Preliminary hearings usually fairly quick, maybe a matter of hours. Why is this one set to [00:00:33] Alexandra Kazariot: take all week? You know, it seems like the prosecution is really putting a lot of effort in showing as much evidence as they can. I don't think it's really a game of them having to hide the ball or to try to hide their prosecution at all. So I think they're making the move of really giving as much evidence as possible. And it's probably because the cameras are there, to be honest. I don't think that they need that to get past this hurdle. But I think it's more for the cameras, [00:01:01] Speaker 1: honestly. Yeah, you mentioned the cameras. The hearing comes 10 months after Charlie Kirk's killing. The defense has worked. They failed to get the cameras out of the courtroom, tried to have certain prosecutors removed, and to have this hearing delayed because of the volume of discovery, they say, so what do you make of the strategy so far? [00:01:18] Alexandra Kazariot: I think that this really is more of an opportunity for both sides to get really their story out. I think it's been a really controversial case. I think that the public is really, there's two real serious factions. People have split into two sides on this. And there's some people that really think that this is a huge conspiracy. And some people that think that there is no chance that he's not guilty of this. And I do think that with the cameras there, really the only reason you have that is because there's misinformation, because both sides believe that there's misinformation out there and they want [00:01:53] Speaker 2: the chance to correct it in front of the cameras. With some ballistic results reportedly inconclusive, Robinson's defense team has said it plans to call three forensic experts to testify in this hearing. [00:02:06] Alexandra Kazariot: What is the goal there? I think it's to call into question the purported evidence that's being brought against him. And you know, one of the issues with preliminary hearings and having them publicized, one of the reasons that both sides tend to not want to have them publicized is that there may be issues with the evidence that a judge later on decides means that it shouldn't come in. Maybe when the prosecution presents this evidence and the defense pokes holes in it, a judge may later rule that that evidence did not stand up to muster and can't come out in front of the jury. But now that you've had a nationally publicized preliminary hearing, the entire nation knows that that evidence exists. [00:02:48] Speaker 1: And so there's no way to unring that bell. Alexandra, we know the prosecutors are going to look for this DNA evidence linking Robinson to the weapon, uh, going to call multiple investigators to the stand, but it is likely that the key figure this week is going to be Robinson's roommate, potential romantic partner. So what do you expect? Well, from what I understand, they're not presenting live [00:03:11] Alexandra Kazariot: testimony. And this partner was given some sort of immunity for a statement. So I think it's going to be very interesting to see what the reaction is by the public. I'm really interested to see how the public, uh, receives this information because it's not live testimony. It's not going to be cross examination. So it's a presentation of a statement, but I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that this evidence all is going to, he's going to be held to answer. Absolutely. But I'm interested in really seeing what the public reaction is to the, these pieces of evidence. Yeah. Given how much could be revealed [00:03:46] Speaker 2: over the coming days, how do both sides present their cases? The prosecution, especially, as you mentioned a few moments ago, trying to clear the bar that this should go to trial without giving away their case, showing their hand that will ultimately be argued at a potential trial. [00:04:01] Alexandra Kazariot: I think that's more of a move for the defense. I think the defense doesn't want to, you have to walk a very thin line of not presenting all of the arguments you have in your defense, because you're, you know, in a case like this, you're not going to win at the preliminary hearing stage. So there's no reason to give the prosecution a preview of your case. The prosecution is going to survive this. But I think one of the real issues for the defense is that, you know, you really want, you want to toe that line. You don't want to give every single thing away at a stage like this, where you're not really going to get too much out of it. And I can't imagine the tension in the [00:04:42] Speaker 1: courtroom today when this happened, but it's actually the first time the Kirk family at Robinson have been in the same room. We know that the widow, Erica Kirk, and her in-laws reportedly briefly left the courtroom when one of the witnesses described hearing that gunshot. From your experience as a defense attorney, what's that moment like when the defendant and a victim's loved one actually see each other? And how do you prepare for that? You know, there's no real way to prepare because you, [00:05:10] Alexandra Kazariot: you can never really tell the future. You can never really know or predict how those two sides are going to react. I've had clients whose families were absolutely just, you know, livid and wrecked in the courtroom and they were outraged. But when the time came to face the other families, I've had situations where the families have actually come together in times like that, where you just have these amazing reactions of forgiveness because, you know, perhaps the family, I mean, there's, there's knowledge that the family didn't have anything to do with it. Um, and then there's other times where people who seem very peaceful just lose it. So you can't predict. [00:05:52] Speaker 2: Based on the evidence we've seen in the low evidentiary bar that prosecutors need to clear, does this go to trial? [00:05:59] Alexandra Kazariot: I think the only way it doesn't go to trial is if the prosecution gives some kind of an offer that really makes the defense think that it's too good to resist, like taking death off the table. I think if the prosecution took death off the table, it would be very, very hard for the defense to move forward to trial. [00:06:16] Speaker 1: Given the high profile nature of this case, is that likely? [00:06:21] Alexandra Kazariot: I don't think it's likely. [00:06:23] Speaker ?: Okay. [00:06:23] Speaker 2: All right. We'll see it unfold, as do you. Criminal defense attorney, Alexandra Xerian, thanks for being with us. [00:06:28] Alexandra Kazariot: Thank you. Thank you for having me.