![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/09\/CHARLIEKIRK.jpg\")
PROVO, Utah (AP) \u2014 The defendant in Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing told his roommate \u201che wishes he hadn\u2019t done it\u201d the day after Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University, according to a recording played in a Utah court Thursday.<\/p>\n
Lance Twiggs, who was also defendant Tyler Robinson\u2019s romantic partner, described the interaction with Robinson during a recorded interview with a prosecutor on April 20.<\/p>\n
Defense attorneys had fought against the public release of the statements from Twiggs, saying prosecutors would characterize the statements as a confession, undermining Robinson’s right to a fair trial if the statements are broadcast by the media.<\/p>\n
Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and has not entered a plea. He turned himself in a day after the fatal shooting of Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump credited with helping galvanize young voters for the Republican in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege Robinson confessed in a note left for Twiggs that read: \u201cI had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I\u2019m going to take it.\u201d Robinson also allegedly sent a text to Twiggs saying he targeted Kirk because he \u201chad enough of his hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twiggs spoke to authorities on Sept. 12 \u2014 two days after Kirk was assassinated while speaking to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University \u2014 and again on April 20. He was given immunity for the statements, meaning what Twiggs said cannot be used against him in a potential criminal case.<\/p>\n
State District Judge Tony Graf will decide at the conclusion of this week\u2019s preliminary hearing if prosecutors have enough evidence to bring Robinson to trial.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence but have sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.<\/p>\n
Attorneys for the media and for Kirk’s widow, Erika, who has attended this week’s hearing, had urged the judge to make Twiggs’ statements and other evidence public.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo not be transparent, to not be open and let the world see what happened will create doubt and distrust in the judicial system,\u201d Kirk family lawyer Jeffrey Neiman told Graf Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Neiman filed a request late Wednesday for all evidence against Robinson to be displayed openly and in real time during this week’s hearing. Neiman wrote that Erika Kirk and Kirk’s parents had waited 10 months for the hearing but at times have been denied the chance \u201cto meaningfully observe\u201d it.<\/p>\n
The judge said in response that not all evidence would be openly displayed and he needs to protect the rights of both victims and the defendant.<\/p>\n
Investigators say Robinson went to a rooftop near where Kirk was speaking and shot him once through the neck as the activist was taking questions from a crowd of several thousand people. Kirk was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n
Investigators found the suspected murder weapon \u2014 a bolt-action rifle with one spent round \u2014 wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near where Kirk was shot.<\/p>\n
Robinson has sat quietly through the hearing. On Thursday, he was dressed in a jacket and tie with one arm shackled to his waist. He appeared to be taking notes with his free hand.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s parents and two of his brothers sat behind him, in the front row of the courtroom gallery. Charlie\u2019s Kirk parents and Erika Kirk sat a few rows back. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, also was in attendance.<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s lawyers earlier this week questioned the reliability of DNA testing used to link the defendant to the towel and gun.<\/p>\n
A member of Tyler Robinson\u2019s defense team interrogated a DNA analyst from the FBI about the techniques she used to connect Robinson to the evidence. Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst\u2019s conclusions.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe can\u2019t match Mr. Robinson to the questioned samples,\u201d Burt argued.<\/p>\n
But forensics expert Lawrence Quarino said law enforcement agencies use \u201cextremely reliable\u201d tests to determine the probability that a person matches with DNA found at a crime scene.<\/p>\n
DNA testing \u201cis the gold standard in forensic science,\u201d said Quarino, a professor and director of the forensic science program at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The defendant in Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing told his roommate \u201che wishes he hadn\u2019t done it\u201d the day after Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University, according to a recording played in a Utah court Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1442372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1502,1447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-heads","category-abc-national-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-07-11 12:58:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1522891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522893,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522891\/revisions\/1522893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1442372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1522891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1522891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1522891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}