PROVO, Utah (Reuters) -The Utah trade school student charged with murdering right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk made a brief court appearance on Monday, where his new legal defense team confirmed they will seek a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a trial.
Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper’s perch that took Kirk’s life on September 10 while Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was addressing a crowd on a university campus in Orem, Utah.
Robinson, arrested after a 33-hour manhunt, has been jailed without bond on charges of aggravated murder and several other criminal offenses, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.
Robinson’s court-appointed lawyer, Kathryn Nester, told Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf in Provo that she did not intend to waive a preliminary hearing, where prosecutors must demonstrate to a judge that there is sufficient evidence to support the charges.
Nester said the defense will need time to examine the evidence, which prosecutors called “voluminous,” and suggested it may be months before the hearing can take place.
Robinson participated virtually from the Utah County jail. Unlike his first court appearance on September 16, when he appeared via video feed from jail, Robinson was not visible on camera on Monday.
Under Utah state law, defendants do not enter a plea until after the preliminary hearing.
Graf set another status conference for October 30, and Nester indicated Robinson would be in court in person for that session.
Kirk’s assassination, captured in graphic video clips that went viral on the internet, unleashed a wave of partisan finger-pointing and deepened fears about rising political violence in the United States.
Fallout has included a national furor over comments about the killing by late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was suspended for nearly a week under pressure from the head of the Federal Communications Commission.
Trump signed a directive on Thursday seeking to crack down on what he characterized as organized efforts by left-wing groups to commit or incite political violence, though no evidence has emerged connecting Robinson with any outside group.
In their charging documents, prosecutors included electronic writings in which Robinson was alleged to have privately confessed to the murder in an exchange of texts with his live-in romantic partner. In it, Robinson allegedly said of Kirk, “I had enough of his hatred.”
(Reporting by Jim Urquhart in Provo, Utah; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Joseph Ax; Editing by Kim Coghill, Nick Zieminski and Nia Williams)
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