A Utah district judge on Monday scheduled the capital murder trial of Tyler Robinson for June 2028, rejecting defence bids to push proceedings into 2029 while overruling prosecutors seeking an earlier date.
District Judge Tony Graf carved out 105 court days for the trial, setting jury selection to start on June 21, 2028. Robinson, 23, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of 31-year-old conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. He faces the death penalty if convicted. The ruling establishes a middle ground between state prosecutors, who insisted they could go to trial by October 2027 or January 2028, and defence attorneys seeking extra years to mount their case. Graf stated the schedule balances Robinson's constitutional right to prepare an adequate defence against the statutory rights of Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, to a prompt legal resolution.
Yet Kirk's family condemned the calendar as an intolerable stall.
Erika Kirk's attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, told the court the family pressed for a trial as early as October next year. "A trial in the summer of 2028, three years after Charlie's assassination, does not feel very speedy to the Kirk family," Neiman told the judge. In a written statement following the hearing, the family warned that "every additional day without justice prolongs our family's pain." The dispute has also drawn intervention from former US President Donald Trump, who demanded on social media that Robinson face trial "within a month" while criticizing the court's pace.
State prosecutors allege Robinson targeted Kirk strictly for his political activities. Evidence submitted to the court includes an unspent bullet recovered from the rifle allegedly used in the shooting, engraved with the words "Hey Facist! CATCH!". Prosecutors also cited an alleged text message Robinson sent regarding Kirk shortly before the attack: "I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out." Robinson surrendered to police one day after the shooting. His legal team has offered no competing factual narrative of the killing.
Instead, defence lawyers told Graf they face a crushing workload. They must sift through tens of thousands of digital discovery files handed over by the prosecution, while launching an extensive investigation into Robinson's personal history to construct mitigating arguments against a capital sentence. The defence also plans public opinion polling across Utah County to assess jury bias, laying groundwork to demand a transfer of the trial outside the county.
Graf ordered both legal teams back to court next December, when he will hear oral arguments on whether to shift the trial to another venue.