Charlie Kirk murder suspect seeks to restrict media at court hearing

PROVO, Utah – The Utah man accused of assassinating Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in September 2025 will appear in court today for another hearing where Judge Tony Graf Jr. will hear defense requests to restrict public access to certain court files, according to the Utah County District Attorney’s Office.

Tyler Robinson, 22, faces the potential death penalty if convicted of killing Kirk on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.

“Specifically, Mr. Robinson seeks to collect evidence in a closed environment regarding unfairly biased and misleading media coverage and inappropriate statements by government officials, and to prevent their republication. Mr. Robinson also requests that this court collect evidence regarding the privacy violations detailed in the ‘camera exclusion motion’ in a closed environment to prevent the recurrence of infringing material,” according to the defense filings.

Robinson’s defense team also plans to ban cameras and microphones, arguing that media coverage could harm the jury.

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The defense team wants to close off parts of the April 17 hearing to the media, arguing that biased media coverage interfered with Robinson’s right to a fair trial.

At the hearing on April 17, the defense team plans to exhibit evidence of “harmful and biased media coverage of this case to date,” the defense team said.

“While there is insufficient time to present the full range of those referred to in the ‘motion to exclude cameras’, the anticipated compilation will highlight the most egregious and worrying issues in media coverage affecting Mr Robinson’s case.”

Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. Turning Point USA founder Kirk was speaking when he was shot in the neck and killed during his “American Comeback Tour.” (Trent Nelson/Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

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Previously, at Robinson’s hearing on Feb. 24, Graf denied a request from the Utah County District Attorney’s Office to disqualify him.

The defense team argued that there was a conflict of interest because a prosecutor’s daughter was present at the time of the shooting at UVU.

However, Graf said the court was “not convinced” by the claim that the prosecution team “appeared to be biased”.

“Because defendant has failed to establish a factual basis giving rise to a constitutional concern for a finding of conflict of interest or an objective appearance of impropriety, his motion is respectfully denied,” Graf said.

4th District Court Judge Tony Graf speaks during the waiver hearing for Tyler Robinson, accused of murdering Charlie Kirk, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, at Utah Valley University. (Laura Seitz/Desert News from the Pool)

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At the next hearing on April 17, the defense’s request to remove all cameras from the courtroom will be discussed, and the preliminary hearing will be held on May 18-20.

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, Stepheny Price, Julia Bonavita, Peter D’Abrosca and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.