PROVO, Utah â Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing in the assassination of Charlie Kirk came to a close without a decision from Judge Tony Graf Jr. on Friday, but the week-long proceeding introduced a wide swath of evidence in the case to the public.
Robinson, 23, is accused of shooting Kirk, 31, from a rooftop sniper’s perch during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Graf agreed to a defense request to allow lawyers to file briefs before he decides whether Robinson’s case should go to trial, a move that adds about six weeks to the process. The next hearing, on Sept. 1, is scheduled to be held just days before the first full year since Kirk’s assassination.
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Amid the lengthy process, enormous public interest in the case and closed-door hearings and court filings, a series of conspiracy theories about what happened last year in Orem have emerged. Many of them were debunked by evidence introduced in court over the last week:
The claims:
Although Robinson’s defense team objected to showing his autopsy report in court, testimony from Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull listed his death as a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the neck.
The testimony included no indication that the forensic pathologist who handled the autopsy found anything inconsistent with that conclusion, ruling out theories involving an exploding microphone.
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While there has been some speculation about the lack of a visible “exit wound” in graphic video of Kirk’s murder, the doctor who performed the autopsy was still confident it was the gunshot that killed Kirk.
James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and Fox News contributor, said that over his 25-year career, he’s seen .22-caliber rounds go all the way through a human body, and much larger .45-caliber rounds hit a bone, muscle or even soft tissue and stop.
“Suppositions like this highlight a complete ignorance of ballistics and are typically spouted by those who have never stood alongside a medical examiner conducting homicide victim autopsies,” Gagliano said. “Its to be expected that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms’ ‘inconclusive’ determination in attempts to match bullet fragments from Kirks body with the murder weapon would cause conspiratorial conjecture.”
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The forensic pathologist recovered bullet fragments from Kirk’s body, which were sent to the ATF for testing. Although tool marks on the fragments themselves were inconclusive, the caliber was consistent with a spent cartridge casing found in the suspected murder weapon â which authorities allege had Robinson’s DNA on it.
On the other hand, the def
