Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of assassinating Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in September 2025, faced a setback on Friday when Judge Tony Graf Jr. ruled against the defense’s request to limit access to specific court filings in advance of an upcoming evidentiary hearing.
“In balance, the defendant has not provided a sufficient basis for the court to find that the interests favoring closure outweigh the interest favoring an open proceeding and the presumptive right to access,” Graf said Friday, per Fox News.
“Moreover, as the Utah Supreme Court recognized, even in highly publicized cases, a defendant’s right to a fair trial can be protected through the regular time-honored process for selecting jurors, like enlarging the voir dire of potential jurors, utilizing a detailed juror questionnaire and conducting a thorough voir dire of potential jurors.”
Judge Graf also denied the defense team’s motion to bar cameras in the courtroom during Robinson’s hearing. However, he stated that the defense must submit a redacted version of the motion to exclude cameras by March 30.
During the hearing, Robinson’s attorneys argued to exclude certain evidence from public access, highlighting concerns about finding an impartial jury in this high-profile case.
“So what we’re talking about is releasing preliminary evidence into the public sphere that has the potential to impact jurors,” defense attorney Staci Visser said. “And it is important enough that we are concerned that it will sway people’s opinions one way or the other.”
“I want to make clear that our concern here is with selecting an impartial jury,” Visser added. “Really, it goes both ways. Whether the evidence is good for my client or bad for my client, whatever it is, it makes it harder to find impartial jurors if they are entrenched in an opinion about our client’s guilt or innocence either way.”
Robinson, 22, may face the death penalty if convicted of killing Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10. He appeared in court wearing a blue dress shirt and tie and was seen occasionally taking notes during the hearing on Friday.
“Specifically, Mr. Robinson seeks to take evidence in a closed setting regarding the unfairly prejudicial and misleading media coverage and the improper statements of government officials in order to avoid republicizing the same. Mr. Robinson also asks this court to take evidence regarding the privacy violations detailed in the ‘motion to exclude cameras’ in a closed setting, to, again, avoid reiterating the violative material,” according to defense filings.
Robinson’s defense team also wants to prohibit cameras and microphones, claiming that media coverage could bias the jury. The defense team requested portions of the April 17 hearing be closed to the media, claiming that prejudicial media coverage affects Robinson’s right to a fair trial.
“We’ll show both that we have categories of prejudice that are recognized as presumptively prejudicial, and we’ll show that beyond that, the overall picture of this case is one of extreme prejudicial pretrial publicity that justifies the kind of relief we’re asking for,” defense attorney Michael Burt said.
At the April 17 hearing, the defense team plans to showcase evidence regarding “harmful and prejudicial media coverage of this case thus far,” the defense said.
“While there is simply not enough time to present all of what is referenced in the ‘motion to exclude cameras,’ the compilation anticipated will highlight the most egregious and most concerning media coverage impacting Mr. Robinson’s case,” said the defense.
However, prosecutors pushed back against the defense team’s motion to limit media access to Robinson’s pretrial hearings, arguing that the proceedings should remain open and that the public has a right to information about the case.
“We are not media lawyers, we are not representing the interests of the media,” Utah County Attorney’s Office general counsel Christopher Ballard said. “Our client is the people of the state of Utah who do have an interest in the public nature of these proceedings.”