By Michael Ruiz | Fox News
Text messages between Tyler Robinson and partner lack timestamps while crime scene return timing disputed
PROVO, Utah — One of the biggest vulnerabilities in the case against Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin, Tyler Robinson, could be the prosecution’s timeline, according to a prominent Utah defense attorney — and she expects the defense to drag discovery in the case on for up to a year before he finally gets a preliminary hearing.
Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two, was shot and killed around 12:20 p.m. on Sept. 10 while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University. He was a founder of the conservative student group, which had a national footprint and is credited for a resurgence of youth support for the Republican Party.
“There’s just so much we don’t know yet as this case develops,” said Skye Lazaro, of the Salt Lake City firm, Ray Quinney & Nebeker.
The defense doesn’t know much yet, either. The discovery process began Monday with a five-day deadline for prosecutors to make their initial disclosures, and Robinson’s team already pushed his waiver hearing back by a month.
Some evidence has been made public already, at news briefings, in comments from authorities or in the charging documents filed last week. Prosecutors included damning text messages between Robinson and his roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, in which he allegedly took responsibility for Kirk’s murder. But they don’t include timestamps.
Robinson, 22, was arrested in his hometown in southern Utah 33 hours after the murder. Before that, he allegedly returned to the crime scene, where police found the suspected murder weapon, Fox News Digital was first to report — still, authorities have not made clear the timing of his encounter with a police officer stationed at the perimeter.
“If it doesn’t line up in a way that makes sense, it could definitely be bad for them,” Lazaro told Fox News Digital.
Robinson allegedly told the officer he wanted to get something he left near a parking garage in the area — which is also near where police found the rifle, according to a law enforcement source. That wasn’t immediately deemed suspicious because hundreds of people had dropped things as they fled for safety in the wake of Kirk’s shooting death in front of a crowd of roughly 3,000. But the officer did a routine check on Robinson’s license plate, which authorities linked to the encounter after he had been identified as a potential suspect, according to the source.
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