Charlie Kirk's accused assassin Tyler Robinson is expected to learn Friday whether a judge will grant his defense team's request to have the potential death penalty taken off the table due to alleged gag order violations by the prosecution.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. will rule on whether prosecutors violated his gag order or state court rules and determine the possible sanctions to be imposed.
Robinson's defense team has argued that the only appropriate remedy is to remove the potential death penalty, which Utah County prosecutors say would be a disproportionate response.
Prosecutors have countered that they did not violate the gag order or any other court rules when they addressed what they called a misleading statement from a defense filing.
The statement led to viral news coverage suggesting that the ATF could not match the bullet that killed Charlie Kirk to the suspected murder weapon, Robinson's grandfather's rifle.
According to court records, the ATF could neither identify nor exclude Robinson's grandfather's rifle as the source of the bullet fragment recovered from Kirk.
However, the caliber was consistent, and a spent casing was also a match.
Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of assassinating Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
The back-and-forth has evolved into a war of words, with prosecutors accusing the defense of releasing misleading information through court filings, and the defense accusing prosecutors of "hubris" when responding in media interviews.
Robinson will attend the hearing remotely from jail and has not yet entered a plea.
He is not expected to enter a plea until after his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to take place over a week in early July.
