The man accused of murdering our cherished Salem Media colleague Charlie Kirk will be back in a Provo, Utah, courtroom Friday as the prosecution and defense prepare for what is likely to be an extremely long and closely watched death-penalty case.
Tyler Robinson, 23, is scheduled to appear before Fourth District Judge Tony Graf at 1 PM MT for a pretrial conference that will hopefully answer one of the biggest questions in the case: When will Robinson actually go on trial?
Charlie's murder took place on September 10, 2025, and Robinson surrendered the very next day, so justice has already now been over a year in coming. Robinson has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including aggravated murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Last month, Judge Graf ruled there was enough evidence to move forward with the next phase – the criminal trial.
Friday's hearing comes as the two sides seek drastically different timelines for that criminal trial. Prosecutors say they'll be ready to begin in October 2027 and estimate a 17-week trial, but have offered a January 2028 start date so as not to run into the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
On the other hand, the defense says it will take years to prepare their case. They estimate they won't be ready until the third quarter of 2029 and estimate the trial itself could take six or seven months.
Robinson's team argues that they need that much time to review tens of thousands of prosecution files, conduct mitigation work related to Robinson's background, prepare for jury selection, and potentially challenge both the location of the trial and Utah's death-penalty laws.
🚨The defense team for Charlie Kirk’s accused killer, Tyler Robinson, wants to push his trial to 2029 – that is nearly four years after Kirk’s assassination. A Utah judge could decide today. Is that justice? https://t.co/7mpOZ4BHC8
— Outnumbered (@OutnumberedFNC) October 23, 2026
The defense's timeline isn't sitting well with Charlie's widow, Erika Kirk, who favors an October 2027 start date and says the defense's proposed timeline is "grossly out of line" with similar cases.
"Every additional day of delay carries the weight of all that Charlie's murder has taken from his family, especially his two young children who were just three and one year old when their father was murdered and would be seven and five years old by the time a verdict is handed down under the Defense's proposed schedule," a filing by Erika Kirk's legal team reads.
This is the question facing Judge Graf at Friday's hearing: How much time does Robinson reasonably need to prepare for a capital murder trial, and how much of a delay is simply too much to ask for?
Hopefully, that question will be soon answered. Graf previously told both sides to come prepared to discuss the trial schedule, and he is expected to consider the dueling timelines during Friday afternoon's hearing.
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