Tyler Robinson, the assassin of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, made his first court appearance on Thursday, smiling and laughing as Judge Tony Graf named Erika Kirk as the official victim representative for her slain husband.
Tyler Robinson smirking and showing no remorse. This is what pure evil looks like. pic.twitter.com/DtC3yFE70c
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) December 11, 2025
Tyler Robinson is SMILING and LAUGHING.
— Jack (@jackunheard) December 11, 2025
SMILING. AND. LAUGHING.
He has ZERO remorse for what he did to Charlie. Make it swift.
pic.twitter.com/rgb9nNVp97
Robinson is accused of shooting Charlie Kirk in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University in September. He was permitted to appear in civilian clothing, but Judge Graf denied his lawyer’s motion to have him appear without restraints.
His attorneys also opposed allowing the media into the courtroom, arguing it could create chaos and taint the jury pool.
“We don’t want the chaos that is out in the media in this courtroom,” Robinson’s attorney, Staci Visser, told the court.
Judge Graf was also set to decide if parts of the October phone hearing transcript, which allowed Robinson to wear street clothes in court, could be made public.
He ultimately put off a ruling on both issues, closing the hearing for more than two hours for private discussions before setting a final decision for Dec. 29.
“I would rather do it right and take more time, than to be rash and miss the mark,” Graf said. “It is an important issue.”
Meanwhile, Tyler’s defense appeared determined to block media access, complaining mid-hearing that the live feed had been showing their conversations, computer screens, and documents to the public.
“We believe this threatened my client’s right to a fair trial,” Visser said, “That’s entirely inappropriate.”
Visser asked for the cameras to be turned off for the rest of the hearing, but the judge only had them moved away from the defense table.
Robinson seemed unbothered by the charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.