Defense lawyers in Charlie Kirk’s killing want a 2029 trial. Kirk’s widow calls that ‘out of line’
By Michelle Krupa, Andi Babineau, CNN
Provo, Utah (CNN) — A ruling on the trial date for the man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk will come next month, a Utah judge declared Friday.
Judge Tony Graf said he had intended to issue his ruling Friday but wanted additional time to analyze new “data points” brought up during Friday’s hearing about a timetable for the trial.
Ahead of the hearing, Kirk’s widow lambasted defendant Tyler Robinson’s request for jury selection to start in the second half of 2029, calling it “grossly out of line.”
The trial should be set for 2027, Erika Kirk’s lawyer wrote in a sharply worded filing asking a state judge in Utah to reject the defense’s proposed timeline.
“Every additional day of delay carries the weight of all that Charlie’s murder has taken from his family, especially his two young children who were just three and one year old when their father was murdered and would be seven and five years old by the time a verdict is handed down under the Defense’s proposed schedule,” Kirk’s motion reads.
The state wants an early 2028 start date for the trial it expects to last 17 weeks, its scheduling memo shows.
Before the hearing, the president took to Truth Social to criticize the judge.
Robinson, 23, who is accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk during a 2025 university event for his nonprofit Turning Point USA, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts, including aggravated murder and felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury.
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if he is convicted of the murder charge.
Robinson’s lawyers want the trial to begin in the third quarter of 2029, with quarterly motion hearings until then “specifically devoted to assessment of the continuing viability of beginning trial during the third quarter of 2029,” they state in a scheduling memo. They need the time, they argue: to meet the high bar of a dual-phase capital case; to prepare for “critical” jury selection; to coordinate with expert witnesses; likely, to spar more over DNA and further ballistics testing; and to sift 31,000 files of evidence.
Erika Kirk takes issue with the last point: “This perverse position, that the more evidence the state has accumulated the more need for delay, is not found in the law,” her request for a speedy trial notes.
Prosecutors, meantime, believe the trial could start much sooner. Citing similar tasks as the defense, they could be ready by October 4, 2027, their court memo states. Still, they propose a start date of January 31, 2028, because “the State does not believe that it is wise to schedule the trial to span the worst of the winter season and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays,” their filing says.
Kirk also took issue with another point. “You know who doesn’t get to spend time with their family over the holidays? Charlie,” Kirk’s attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, told the court.
Both parties estimate the trial – from the start of jury selection to the close of any capital punishment phase – will stretch for months: six to seven months, Robinson’s defense has said; four months, per the state.
Graf asked attorneys to submit additional information to him as he considers his ruling, including start and estimated end dates for any other trials they currently have scheduled, when those trials were docketed, and what priority they take in their courtrooms.
The judge scheduled the next hearing for November 9.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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