Tyler Robinson refuses to testify after prosecutors bury him with evidence

The preliminary hearing regarding whether to try Tyler Robinson for his alleged assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk drew to close on Friday with state District Judge Tony Graf now in the possession of a wealth of damning evidence.

Over the course of the five-day hearing, the court heard or saw:

• surveillance camera footage showing the suspected assassin skulking around campus on the day of the shooting, developing a stiff leg after an apparent costume change, climbing onto a rooftop, running to a "sniper pad" on the rooftop overlooking the site where Kirk was shot, and dropping down from the roof immediately after the shooting, then fleeing the scene with "some kind of object" in his hand;
• that Robinson ate a Chick-fil-A on campus, where he was not a student, and allegedly interacted with TPUSA staff at the scene;
• a video of Robinson's homosexual lover Lance Twiggs' deposition, where he claimed that the individual seen in the surveillance footage "definitely" looked like Robinson;
• Twiggs' testimony that Robinson left their shared apartment unusually early on the day of the shooting, had "started crying a bit" when he came back the morning after, and had told Twiggs "he wishes he hadn't done it";
• Twiggs' testimony that he lent Robinson a tool to engrave some ammunition, especially relevant because the suspected murder weapon contained ammunition with engravings that included "Hey fascist! Catch" and "If you read this, you are gay, LMAO";
• text messages between the gay lovers in which Robinson allegedly referred to one of the engravings on the ammunition, allegedly writing, "If I see 'uwu notices bulge' on fox new [sic] I might have a stroke";
• text messages between Robinson and Twiggs in which the suspected killer allegedly admitted to killing Kirk, told his boyfriend that he "had enough of [Kirk's] hatred," and discussed retrieving his rifle from a "drop point" and leaving behind "no evidence";
• testimony from Utah Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jennifer Faumuina indicating that the two sets of male DNA discovered on the towel wrapped around the suspected murder weapon were a match to Twiggs and very likely to Robinson;
• testimony from David Hull, a former Utah State Bureau of Investigation special agent who led the probe in the assassination, that a male was spotted by a Spanish Forks police officer in a car registered to Robinson near Campus Drive early on Sept. 11, the day after the assassination; and
• testimony on Friday from Caitlin Oliver, a forensic biologist at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that testing on swabs taken from several parts of the suspected murder weapon and the ammunition supports the conclusion that the DNA found was primarily contributed by Robinson.

On Friday, a zoomed-in version of the footage allegedly showing Robinson crawling out to a "sniper's perch" was also shown in the courtroom.

The footage was not, however, broadcast for public consumption in part because a media cameraman had violated a court order on Thursday, accidentally showing an exhibit that was not allowed to be published — a handwritten note allegedly from Robinson to Twiggs in which the author wrote,

If you are reading this per my text, then I am so sorry. I left the house this morning on a mission, and set an auto text. I am likely dead, or facing a lengthy prison sentence. I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it. I don't know if I will/have succeeded, but I had hoped to make it home to you.

While the evidence was already public, having previously appeared in the search warrant released in March, the defense made a fuss such that the violation dominated the discussion for the early portion of Friday's hearing.

Robinson chose not to testify during the pretrial hearing and has not entered a plea.

RELATED: Hearing bombshell as gay lover ties Tyler Robinson to damning evidence in Kirk assassination

L-R: Trent Nelson/Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images; Bethany Baker-Pool/Getty Images

Robinson faces charges of aggravated murder, a capital first-degree felony; felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury; committing a violent offense in the presence of a child; two counts of obstruction of justice — a second-degree felony; and two counts of witness tampering for allegedly telling his boyfriend to delete his text messages and to stay quiet if questioned by police.

The hearing will resume on Sept. 1, when both the prosecution and the defense will be afforded one last opportunity to make their final arguments to Graf about whether Robinson should stand trial.

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