A Utah judge ruled on Monday that Tyler Robinson will go to trial in 2028 on murder charges related to the September 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Judge Tony Graf set the trial date during a hearing in a Provo, Utah, courtroom, more than two months after he ruled that the prosecution had enough evidence to move the case to trial. The trial will fall later than state prosecutors had requested but sooner than what Robinson’s lawyers had fought for. Robinson has pleaded not guilty to the various charges against him for the killing of Kirk.
Graf set jury selection to begin June 21, 2028, with 105 days reserved for the trial. He also said the trial will remain in Provo.
State prosecutors had pushed for a proposed start date of Jan. 31, 2028, for the trial, while Robinson’s lawyers had pushed for a start sometime in the third quarter of 2029. The defense argued that they need years to prepare for the murder trial in their court filing proposing the start date, which would be roughly four years after Kirk was killed. Both sides have said they believe the trial will take months after it begins.
The summer 2028 start date means Robinson’s trial will unfold at the height of the next presidential election season.
Robinson’s lawyers have filed several motions throughout the pretrial process that have significantly extended the process. Lawyers for Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, slammed the defense’s proposed trial date in a filing last month, asking for the trial to begin by Oct. 4, 2027, and asserting their right to a speedy trial.
“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 years 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,” the filing from Kirk’s lawyers reads.
“What’s worse, the defendant’s core argument for delay is that there is such an overwhelming amount of evidence – a perverse position that has no legal basis,” the Kirk family’s filing reads. “Utah law requires that the victims’ interests receive actual weight in setting trial, and for the reasons laid out here, those interests include a judicial process that is fair, transparent, and without needless delay.”
Graf addressed Erika Kirk’s concerns in his oral order setting the trial timeline, noting the difficulties of beginning the trial in less than a year, including the risk that it could place the trial or jury deliberations over the Christmas holiday in 2027. When addressing Robinson’s request for a 2029 trial date, Graf said that “unnecessary delay remains a serious concern.”
President Donald Trump also expressed his rage over the delays with the murder trial, saying in a Truth Social post last month that Graf is “doing a terrible job” and that “this case should be tried within a month, not three years — and it should be over with!”
“The judge is desecrating the memory of the Great Charlie Kirk, while taking forever to ask questions that people already know the answer to,” Trump posted. “The whole Country is mocking him and our ‘Legal’ System. JUSTICE FOR CHARLIE!”
TRUMP SLAMS LENGTH OF TYLER ROBINSON TRIAL: ‘IT SHOULD BE OVER WITH!’
Graf ruled last month that Robinson would stand trial on murder charges for allegedly killing Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, finding the prosecution had shown probable cause to proceed. Robinson will go to trial on five charges, including aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of obstruction of justice, tampering with a witness, and violent offense committed in the presence of a child. If found guilty, Robinson could face the death penalty.
Utah authorities say Robinson claimed Kirk spread “too much hate,” and that his family said Robinson espoused increasingly left-wing views, including about transgender people, in the years leading up to his arrest. The trial is expected to be one of the most closely watched criminal cases in recent years, after the public killing of Kirk sent shock waves through politics last year.