Defendant pleads not guilty in Charlie Kirk murder case

Tyler Robinson, who's accused of fatally shooting prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a US college campus, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge that a judge ruled could carry the death penalty.

Robinson's plea on Tuesday and the ruling by Utah District Court Judge Tony Graf came after prosecutors laid out what they called overwhelming evidence that a capital trial was warranted for the murder of one of the US political right's most prominent figures.

Defence lawyers had argued the shooting did not meet the standard for a death penalty charge.

Utah County lawyers accused the former apprentice electrician of firing the single shot that killed Kirk, 31, as he held one of his trademark campus debates that helped propel him to national prominence.

Graf ruled that Robinson, 23, should face trial on all seven charges against him, among them aggravated murder for endangering the lives of others at the event. That count carries the death penalty in Utah.

Kirk's killing, captured in smartphone video that spread widely on social media, is among a series of attacks on US political figures in recent years that have fuelled debate over political violence in a deeply polarised country.

Utah County prosecutor Ryan McBride presented video of what he said was Robinson taking up a sniper position at Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10, 2025, before he shot Kirk.

He displayed pictures he said showed Robinson created a "great risk of death" to others, with Kirk's security detail close to Kirk when he was shot.

McBride said the four rounds in Robinson's rifle demonstrated he was prepared to fire more rounds if the first missed, further endangering others.

"He lay down in a prone position, and he would have seen this mass of people, of 3000-plus people there for the event, took aim, put his crosshairs on Charlie Kirk and fired," McBride told the court.

Defence lawyer Staci Visser said the shooting endangered no one but Kirk, arguing the crime didn't meet the standard of aggravated murder.

Visser said the assailant didn't engage with anyone else or reload the weapon.

"There is one act. There is one shot. There is one bullet. There is one victim," Visser told the court.

"There was no evidence that would suggest that anyone else was threatened."