Prosecutors are getting ready to charge Tyler Robinson, the alleged Charlie Kirk assassin, with capital murder, which could result in his execution by firing squad.
Charges against Robinson, 22, are expected to come ahead of the first court hearing since he was accused last week of shooting Kirk, sources close to prosecutors told the Associated Press.
Kirk, 31, was a conservative activist credited with energising the Republican youth movement and helping President Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.
Authorities say Robinson held a ‘leftist ideology’ and may have been ‘radicalised’ online before he was arrested for killing the MAGA influencer.
The most serious allegation that Utah County prosecutors are pursuing against Robinson is aggravated murder, which carries the possibility of the death penalty in the event of a conviction.
Utah is one of five states that still allow the firing squad as a form of death punishment, even though lethal injection is the most common method of execution in the United States.
Robinson is expected to appear on video for a virtual court session following the filing of charges. Since his arrest, he has been detained without being granted bail, and it is unknown if he has legal representation.
Investigators have been piecing together evidence, including a rifle and ammunition branded with anti-fascist and meme culture messaging, discovered after the shooting on Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem.
Kirk was speaking there on one of his numerous campus visits, where he enjoyed debating just about everyone.
While authorities say Robinson hasn’t been cooperating with investigators, they do say his family and friends have been talking.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said over the weekend that those who know Robinson say his politics shifted left in recent years and that he spent a lot of time in the ‘dark corners of the internet’.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday that DNA evidence has linked Robinson to a towel wrapped around a rifle found near the Utah Valley campus and a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired.
Before the shooting, Robinson wrote in a note that he had an opportunity to take out Kirk and was going to do it, according to Patel.
Investigators are working on finding a motive for the attack, Utah’s governor said Sunday, adding that more information may come out once Robinson appears for his initial court hearing.
Cox said Robinson’s romantic partner was transgender, which some politicians have pointed to as a sign the suspect was targeting Kirk for his anti-transgender views. But authorities have not yet said whether that played a role.
Kirk was shot while taking a question that touched on mass shootings, gun violence and transgender people.
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said Monday that Robinson’s partner has been cooperative.
He said investigators believe Robinson acted alone during the shooting, but they also are looking at whether anyone knew of his plans beforehand.
Robinson justified his actions by saying, ‘Some hatred cannot be negotiated with,’ Patel added.
The embattled head of the bureau, who faces a Senate grilling over his handling of the investigation, revealed the shocking motive of Tyler Robinson.
Patel added that when Robinson was questioned why he would kill the conservative influencer, he responded: ‘Some hatred cannot be negotiated with.’
The investigation, according to Patel, has featured witness interviews between both the FBI and local and regional law enforcement, where they found Robinson ‘essentially admitted’ to killing Kirk.
The director also tempered concerns about how long details pertaining to the investigation were taking, saying that he ‘won’t stylise the evidence’ but that ‘information will come out’.
Robinson was taken into custody after a high-profile manhunt following the fatal shooting of the 31-year-old conservative influencer at a demonstration last week.
When the perpetrator of the deadly shooting was eventually caught by police, Cox had earlier promised to execute them.
Among the few states that still use firing squad executions are Utah, along with Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
Historically, the use of the firing squad was mostly restricted to the state of Utah, when legislators in 1851 established three likely punishments for murder: shooting, hanging or beheading.
Since 1608, at least 144 civilian prisoners have been executed by shooting in the US, nearly all in Utah.
Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, only four executions of this kind have happened, with the most recent being Brad Sigmon in March.
He was convicted of bludgeoning his ex-girlfriend’s parents to death and was executed at South Carolina’s Broad River Correctional Institution, making him the first person to die by the firing squad in the state for 15 years.
I don’t agree with the death penalty. Never have and never will. A life sentence with no parole, but to take a life for a life is not a deterrent, and makes the person conducting the execution no better than the person they are killing. As they say, ‘An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.’
If it were a deterrent, why is there so much knife and gun crime in the US?
Robinson is a 22-year-old man who chose to kill another human being. He knew that he would be executed. Perhaps he didn’t value his life that much, or perhaps he was brainwashed by somebody else – it happens all the time, but ultimately it was a violent crime that will end his life – his family must be devastated.
This is a pointless waste of two lives, and for what exactly? This is such a sad example of the madness in today’s world, but let’s not fall into the trap that life is cheap; it’s not. Our lives are valuable, and we must all strive to live our best lives, not just for ourselves but for others as well.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 