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The murder case against the man accused of killing political commentator Charlie Kirk can proceed to trial with a charge that makes the suspect eligible for the death penalty, a Utah judge ruled Tuesday.
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The judge said prosecutors have shown probable cause to support an aggravated murder charge against Tyler Robinson for the alleged shooting of Kirk at a college campus outdoor event a year ago.
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Robinson, 23, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to all the charges against him.
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The ruling by Judge Tony F. Graf of Utah County’s 4th District Court follows a week-long hearing in July in which prosecutors outlined the evidence against Robinson, including video footage they say depicts his movements across the Utah Valley University campus on the day of the shooting.
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“Today’s decision, which comes nearly a year since Charlie was taken from us, marks an important step in our family’s pursuit of justice for him,” according to a statement issued by Kirk’s family.
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Kirk, who was 31, was killed on Sept. 10 while on tour for his politically conservative organization, Turning Point USA. He had been speaking to a crowd of more than 3,000 people for about 20 minutes when a shot was fired from a nearby building.
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The slaying sparked a manhunt that involved federal, state and local authorities. Ultimately, prosecutors charged Robinson after he turned himself in to authorities. Since then he has been held without bail.
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Prosecutors have said the evidence they have collected against him is “overwhelming,” including DNA they say connects Robinson with a rifle found wrapped inside a towel on campus, as well as communications Robinson had with his friends and roommate after the shooting.
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Ryan McBride, a lawyer with the Utah County Attorney’s office, argued that the aggravated murder charge is appropriate because the shooting endangered others who were present at the event where Kirk was killed.
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“If you shoot at someone in a public assassination attempt, you have a great risk of killing someone else,” McBride said in court Tuesday. “What are the consequences of missing? Death. It’s not that the defendant didn’t see all these people — he obviously did, he had to — it’s that he didn’t care.”
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McBride said that Robinson “came on a mission to kill Charlie Kirk and, if he missed, so be it.”
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In addition to aggravated murder, which carries a possible death sentence in Utah, Robinson also faces a charge of felony discharge of a gun causing injury, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and one count of committing a violent offence in the presence of a child.
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Robinson’s defence team stressed that there were no actual threats to third parties made by the person who killed Kirk because the shooter fired a single shot, using a rifle with a telescopic scope, and did not reload the weapon after firing.