Charlie Kirk murder suspect's preliminary hearing will be open to public, judge rules

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]A preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, the man suspected of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, will be open to reporters and members of the public. Robinson's legal team requested that access to the hearing be restricted, which the judge denied, saying they did not show that presenting the evidence publicly would deny Robinson a fair trial.

[00:00:22]>> Several methods remain available to protect the defendant's right to a fair trial, including enlarging the veneer of potential jurors, utilizing detailed juror questionnaires, and conducting thorough voir dire. All methods routinely used to safeguard a defendant's constitutional rights.

[00:00:40]For these reasons, the court respectfully denies defendant's motion.

[00:00:45]This is the order of the court.

[00:00:48]>> I want to bring in CBS News senior crime and public safety producer Anna Schechter. Anna, what's the significance of the judge's ruling here?

[00:00:56]>> Well, the fact that we all are going to be able to see this evidence, this is important. The judge clearly thinks that it's already out there. This is such a huge story. A lot of people are paying attention, and there's quite a a bit of information that has already dripped out. For example, the Robinson text messages to his roommate, for example.

[00:01:17]That was read to us, for those of us who were covering that horrible day when we all watched Charlie Kirk uh die from that gunshot wound. We heard those text messages. So, the judge is saying, "Well, I don't think that a jury pool is actually going to be tainted by having this public, because there are other ways that we can protect the jury pool. We can ask questions. Given what's out in the public domain, will you be fair?" And that's really important. It's giving a lot of credit to the citizens that will potentially sit on that 12-person jury when that trial does start, Liz.

[00:01:56]>> And you know that since it's now open to the public and the press, that jury I'm excuse me that courtroom is going to be packed. I'm curious now that it is public, it's going to be all out there.

[00:02:06]How does that impact potential jurors?

[00:02:08]Does it impact the selection?

[00:02:10]>> Well, if this is this goes right to the heart of it. What are we really going to see? Maybe we're going to see more text messages. Maybe we're going to see very specific ballistic information. Remember that on that day I'll just remind our viewers. I was in this chair reporting this out. We learned that Robinson's gun was actually obtained by his grandfather. It was a very old shotgun, very unusual. In fact, my sources told me it was difficult for them to figure out and trace the gun for the ATF to even pin down how old the gun, where was it from. So, it's very unique and this fueled a lot of conspiracy theories online. Some of our viewers might not realize, but there have been conspiracy theories swirling around that it wasn't actually Tyler Robinson. And what prosecutors want is for all of this to be out in the public because they feel like they have a really strong case. The defense has argued to keep this all private. I think an important point to note here is that people someone like Erica Kirk, she probably wants this out there because of all the conspiracy theories. Let's get this out in the public domain as quickly as possible to show what law enforcement has built in their case against Tyler Robinson. And from what I've seen, it is quite a bit.

[00:03:32]But of course, in this country he is innocent until proven guilty.

[00:03:36]>> Absolutely. Anna Schechter, thank you so much.