State of the Evidence
Where the case stands
The prosecution's probable-cause pillars, tracked across the hearing. State = what's been put on so far; Open question = the caveat, or the defense's strongest line against it. This is a probable-cause posture, not a verdict — a low bar the State is widely expected to clear.
Robinson placed on campus by video across four visits on Sept. 10 — onto the Losee roof, prone in line with the tent, the shot at 11:23:28, then off the northeast corner carrying a long object. In-court ID by Hull, "for this hearing only."
Open questionThe roof video alone shows no face or clothing; the name came only from the surrender, not the investigation; the object is never confirmed as a gun on video; the in-court ID drew a suggestiveness objection.
Bagley, Hull · Ex. 11.4 / 11.1
"Very strong support for inclusion" for Robinson on both the towel (~1.7 octillion×) and the screwdriver (~30 quintillion×).
Open questionRoommate Twiggs called a contributor on a likelihood ratio of 1 ("uninformative"); contributor count revised 3→2; towel found in a bush, not a home; same-length "isoallele" sequences unresolved; items 1–6 consumed with no DNA and no retest.
Faumuina, Baker · Ex. 30.1
Mauser Model 98, .30-06, bolt-action, towel-wrapped, recovered Sept. 10 in the wooded area Robinson entered; sent to the ATF lab.
Open questionNo ballistics match presented yet; a prior defense filing cited an "inconclusive" ATF bullet-fragment comparison to the rifle. Hull wasn't involved in the search or processing.
Faumuina, Hull
Prosecutors have signaled a note left for the roommate and a recorded interview of roommate Lance Twiggs — neither introduced across Days 1–2.
Open questionThe alleged confession is the State's strongest card and is still offstage; expected later in the hearing. Its wording and foundation will matter.
— (pending)
Gunshot wound of the neck; manner homicide (Ex. 11 — admitted, not broadcast).
Open questionIn only through Hull secondhand — he wasn't present at the autopsy, and the medical examiner did not testify.
Hull · Ex. 11
Robinson surrendered voluntarily the evening of Sept. 11 via a family-connected intermediary (Nester: a former Boy Scout leader); walked into the Washington County SD with his parents.
Open questionCuts for the defense: Hull conceded that until the surrender, "we did not specifically know who the shooter was" — the ID followed the surrender, not the reverse.
Hull
To make the shooting death-eligible, the State must show Robinson targeted Kirk over his political expression (Utah Code 76-3-203.14). The Engelhardt statement (Ex. 5.1) is provisionally admitted, unpublished.
Open questionThe defense says 5.1 says nothing about Robinson's state of mind and risks recasting a political-expression case as one "about religion" (Matthew 19, subsection (m) vs. (k)). The State still needs independent evidence of motive.
McBride / Novak · Ex. 5.1
Day 1 · Monday, July 6, 2026
What happened
The State opened its probable-cause case with two witnesses and roughly forty exhibits. Judge Graf set a three-tier framework for every exhibit — admission, then publication to the gallery, then publication in a form the courtroom camera can capture — and required the defense to object to each tier separately.
Former UVU officer Christopher Bagley laid the campus geography and testified to hearing a single shot at 11:23, seeing Kirk fall left, and — after a suspect was in custody within ~30 seconds — climbing to the roof of the Losee Center, where he found a screwdriver and a gravel disturbance he read as a prone "sniper" position. On cross, Nester drew out that there was no security briefing, six officers covered thousands of attendees, the pistol holster he saw was never collected, and his body camera died on the roof.
SBI/DPS agent David Hull, the lead case agent, testified to the identification effort: hundreds of hours of video, a series of witness videos authenticated via written "reliable hearsay" statements, the medical examiner's finding (gunshot wound of the neck; homicide), and — after Washington County relayed that Robinson wanted to surrender the evening of Sept. 11 — a records workup yielding a silver Dodge Challenger and four campus visits on Sept. 10. Graf sustained the defense objection to the State's edited (zoomed/blurred/circled) surveillance compilation; the State said it would return Day 2 with an unaltered version. Hull was held over on the stand.
Index
Witnesses
Order of appearance, Day 1. Expand for a topic map of each examination.
1 · Officer Christopher Bagley Former UVU PD (now Spanish Fork PD) · Direct: Grunander · Cross: Nester · Redirect: Grunander
Background
- ~6 years an officer; ~5 years at UVU PD (prior: Utah County Sheriff, Springville PD, Tooele County). Prior SWAT, K-9, motors. Worked the Kirk event on an overtime shift; checked in ~11:00 a.m.
Direct — the shooting & the roof
- Assigned to secure the south end of the Hall of Flags walkway above Kirk's tent.
- Heard a single shot at 11:23; saw the right side of Kirk's body, then Kirk "went to the left." Estimated ~7,000 present.
- A suspect was reported in custody within ~30 seconds, near Kirk in the courtyard.
- Found an empty concealed pistol holster on the grass; realized the report sounded like a rifle, from the east — the Losee Center had a direct line of sight.
- On the Losee roof (~11:44): found a red-and-black screwdriver (untouched) and a gravel disturbance he described as a prone "sniper pad" in line with Kirk's tent. Secured the roof and the NE drop-off (shoe impression in grass) with tape.
Cross (Nester)
- No security briefing, tactical, or operational plan; ~15 UVU officers total, six assigned to the event, plus Kirk's private security.
- Gun-free campus; saw no armed civilians except one of Kirk's security team. Drones arrived after the shooting (Sgt. Nilsson, Provo PD).
- The pistol holster was never taken into custody or fingerprinted to his knowledge.
- A plainclothes man with an apparent handgun accompanied him up to the Losee roof — agency unknown.
- Never reviewed video for the gap between the rooftop figure leaving and his own arrival. Body cam (~27:35) died on the roof before he taped it off.
- Report did not state a direction for the shot or name the Losee building; described the object in the shooter's hand as a long/rifle-like object, later associated with a towel-wrapped item — did not write "gun."
2 · Agent David Hull Utah SBI / DPS, Major Crimes — lead case agent (with Agent Brian Davis) · Direct: Sterk [?] · held over to Day 2
Background & role
- ~7+ years SBI; ~40 homicide investigations. Dispatched to assist, then made co-lead with Agent Brian Davis. Assigned the team: Faumuina (crime lab / scenes), Sgt. Barker [?] (UVU surveillance), Sgt. Clark (area canvass), L. Shots (information flow).
- Stated priority: identify the individual seen on the roof.
Video & witness statements
- Hundreds of hours reviewed; personally ~20 hrs initially, later ~16 hrs of the person/vehicle he identifies as Robinson on UVU footage.
- Authenticated third-party videos via written Rule 1102 statements: Amber Wright (E6/6.1), a minor, Phillips (E7/7.1, mother co-signed), Toe Farnsworth of Visual Impulse / TPUSA videographer (E8/8.1), Curtis Olsen of UVU (E9/11.3), and Mrs. Noble — Ring doorbell (E13, E11.2).
Autopsy
- ME's office autopsied Kirk late Sept. 10 into Sept. 11. Cause of death: gunshot wound of the neck; manner: homicide. ME investigator identified as "Officer Bullock." (Report = Exhibit 11.)
Identifying Robinson
- Evening of Sept. 11: Washington County relayed that an individual — Tyler Robinson — wanted to turn himself in. Records workup (CIAG): photo, address, DOB, and a silver Dodge Challenger registered to Robinson and his mother.
- Tracked four campus visits on Sept. 10 (twice before the shooting, at the shooting, and after into early Sept. 11).
- Ring doorbell at 680 W 925 S showed the vehicle parking ~00:30:08 on the morning of the 11th.
- Made an in-court identification of Robinson (over objection; see Rulings).
Ledger
Exhibit Log — Day 1
Every exhibit offered Day 1, with the defense's objection basis and the court's disposition. Status chips: ADMITTEDNOT ADMITTEDPUBLISHED · COURTPUBLISHED · MEDIAPLAYED · SCREENS ONLYNOT BROADCAST
| Ex. | Item | Objection → Ruling | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Photo of courtyard/amphitheater, facing NE (via Bagley)Hall of Flags, Sorenson, Woodbury, Fulton, Losee visible | Foundation (who/when took it) → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 2 | Photo from east side looking west across campus | Standing obj. + foundation/time → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 3 | Drone photo of courtyard looking eastward | Foundation → Overruled State v. Purcell, 711 P.2d 243 | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 35 | Aerial view of campus + NE neighborhood (street grid, "horseshoe") | Timing/foundation → Overruled State v. Weger, 372 P.3d 91 | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 3.1 | Red-and-black screwdriver on Losee rooftop | Foundation → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 3.2 | Top of Losee looking west (evidence tag #2 present) | Foundation / tag not present when observed → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 4 | Nighttime photo, gravel disturbance, w/ markersTaken by Melissa Richards, forensic lead — not present | Hearsay (Richards absent) → Overruled Rule 1102; hearsay OK to lay foundation | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 5 | Nighttime side profile, measuring tape + markers, facing south (Richards) | Same as E4 → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURT |
| 6.1 | Rule 1102 written statement — Amber Wright (cellphone video) | Hearsay + Confrontation + UCJA 4-202.02 → Overruled redacted; Rule 1102, Art. I §11 | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 6 | Amber Wright cellphone videoCrowd + start of Kirk's remarks; does NOT show the shooting | Authentication + victim-privacy → Admitted; played in court but not broadcast (minor faces not all obscured) | ADMITTEDCOURTNOT BROADCAST |
| 7.1 | Rule 1102 statement — Phillips (minor; mother co-signed) | Hearsay + minor/victim protection → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 7 | Phillips video — graphic; depicts the moment Kirk was shot | Authentication + more prejudicial than probative → Admitted; not published | ADMITTEDSCREENS ONLYNOT BROADCAST |
| 8.1 | Rule 1102 statement — Toe Farnsworth, Visual Impulse (TPUSA videographer) | Hearsay + authentication (clips edited by unknown) → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 8 | Visual Impulse video — from stage into crowd; graphic; moment of shooting; Kirk tossing hats | Authentication → Admitted; not published Art. I §28 (victim dignity) | ADMITTEDSCREENS ONLYNOT BROADCAST |
| 11.3 | Rule 1102 statement — Curtis Olsen, UVU (dir. of infrastructure / surveillance system) | Hearsay → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 9 | Hall of Flags "breezeway" video (~3 min)Behind stage; shows Kirk carried away / "hasty transport" | Graphic/sensitive → Admitted; not published Art. I §28 | ADMITTEDSCREENS ONLYNOT BROADCAST |
| 11 | Medical Examiner autopsy report (9 pp.), Dr. [name] [?]Cause: gunshot wound of the neck · Manner: homicide | Hearsay + best-evidence + Confrontation → Overruled Rule 1102(b)(5) medical/autopsy records; Art. I §11. Best-evidence obj. sustained as to State's "murder" mischaracterization — corrected to "homicide." | ADMITTEDNOT BROADCAST |
| 13 | Rule 1102 statement — Mrs. Noble (Ring doorbell, 680 W 925 S) | Hearsay + dual-author foundation → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 11.1 | Surveillance compilation — Robinson's campus movementsProduced by County Attorney's office WITH zooms, blurs, red circles | Authentication — altered by non-testifying person; prejudice → SUSTAINED. State to bring an unaltered version Day 2. | NOT ADMITTED |
| 11.2 | Ring doorbell compilation — 4 clips (vehicle arrives/parks; person exits; returns; drives off), ~00:30:08 | Authentication (compilation) → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
Note on numbering: the State used a parent/child scheme (e.g., 11, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3) grouping a source's video, sub-clips, and 1102 statement. "35" appears out of sequence in the source audio and may be a mis-hearing of a sub-numbered exhibit; flagged for verification against the official exhibit list.
Bench
Rulings & Legal Framework — Day 1
The load-bearing rulings, with the authority Graf relied on. These recur across the week, so they anchor the whole record.
Reliable hearsay is admissible at the preliminary hearing
Graf's throughline: at a probable-cause hearing the State may rely on reliable hearsay, so written witness statements and third-party media come in without the declarant present. This carried every 1102 statement (E6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 11.3, 13) and the autopsy report.
Utah Const. art. I §11 · Utah R. Evid. 1101(c), 1102 (incl. (b)(3), (b)(5) medical/autopsy, (b)(8))
Three-tier publication framework
Graf required objections to specify which tier they targeted: (1) admission of the exhibit; (2) publication to the gallery; (3) publication in a form the courtroom camera could capture. Absent a specific objection to a tier, he presumed none. Graphic exhibits (E7, E8, E9, E11) were admitted and shown to the court on protected screens but not broadcast, citing victim dignity.
Utah Const. art. I §28(1)(a) — victims' right to fairness, respect, dignity
Photo authentication without the photographer
A competent witness with personal knowledge of the scene may authenticate a photograph as a fair and accurate depiction; the person who took it need not testify. Applied to overrule the defense's foundation objections to the campus/scene photos.
State v. Purcell, 711 P.2d 243, 245 · State v. Weger, 372 P.3d 91 · State v. Griffin, 384 P.3d 186
Altered surveillance compilation excluded (E11.1)
Graf sustained the defense objection: the compilation had been zoomed, blurred, and circled by an unidentified person in the County Attorney's office who was not present and not covered by any 1102 statement. He held that alterations by a non-testifying person fall outside the reliable-hearsay foundation, even if "minor," and left it to the State to reoffer an unaltered version.
Best-evidence correction on the autopsy (E11)
When the State's witness characterized the manner of death as "murder," the defense's best-evidence objection was sustained; on reviewing page one, the witness corrected it to the report's actual term, homicide, with cause "gunshot wound of the neck."
In-court identification of Robinson — allowed "for purposes of this hearing only"
The defense objected that asking Hull to identify the only man seated at the defense table was unduly suggestive and a 14th Amendment due-process violation that could taint later identifications. After a bench conference, Graf found the identification made for the preliminary hearing only; late in the day Hull described Robinson in a gray suit jacket for the record.
U.S. Const. amend. XIV (due process)
UCJA 4-202.02 distinguished (records vs. in-court exhibits)
The defense repeatedly invoked the judicial-administration rule classifying certain victim images as private court records. Media counsel David Reymann argued — and Graf effectively accepted — that the rule governs classification of records in the court file, not exhibits the court relies on in open court, where the public has a qualified right of access to see what the judge sees.
Procedural
Media's motion to use portable electronic devices: denied for media generally, granted for media counsel. Exclusionary rule invoked by the defense; agents Davis and Hull permitted to remain by stipulation. Hull kept under the rule (no discussing testimony) while held over to Day 2.
Record
Cleaned Transcript — Day 1
Expand all · Collapse all — repetitive exhibit-admission colloquies are captured in the Exhibit Log and marked inline.
Opening — protocol, appearances, camera, publication framework
Bagley — Direct (Grunander): campus geography & the exhibits
Bagley — Direct: the shooting, the holster, the Losee roof
Bagley — Cross (Nester): no briefing, the holster, the body cam
Hull — Direct (Sterk [?]): role, the identification effort, witness videos
Hull — the autopsy report (Exhibit 11): "homicide," not "murder"
Hull — hundreds of hours of video; the surrender; the Challenger; four campus visits
Hull — in-court identification; held over to Day 2
Day 2 · Tuesday, July 7, 2026
What happened
Two fights dominated Day 2: the surveillance video and the DNA. On the video, the State returned with an unaltered compilation (Ex. 11.4) to cure the exclusion of its zoomed/blurred/circled version (Ex. 11.1). Graf admitted 11.4 and — over a fair-trial objection — allowed it broadcast, distinguishing it from the graphic exhibits: it merely shows the defendant walking the campus. Playing it, Hull narrated Robinson's four visits on Sept. 10, culminating in the figure rolling onto the Losee roof, going prone, the shot at 11:23:28, and the jump off the northeast corner carrying a long object. 11.1 (enhanced) was then admitted but not published — Rule 403, cumulative.
On cross, Nester pressed Hull hard: the roof video alone couldn't identify anyone; a person was in custody within seconds and later cleared; a handgun turned up in a backpack; an off-duty trooper (Gonzales) reported a gun in the holster; and — the throughline — until Robinson voluntarily surrendered the evening of Sept. 11, "we did not specifically know who the shooter was." A family-connected intermediary (Nester: a former Boy Scout leader) facilitated the surrender.
Then the forensics: Sgt. Faumuina traced the screwdriver and a Mauser .30-06 (towel-wrapped, in the woods) to the labs, and the FBI DNA report (Ex. 30.1) put Robinson and roommate Lance Twiggs as likely contributors on both. The defense then called FBI analyst Amanda Baker out of order and drew real blood on cross: the number of contributors on one sample had been revised from three to two; STRmix returned a likelihood ratio of exactly 1 ("uninformative") for Twiggs, yet Baker still called him a contributor via "assumed contributor"/elimination reasoning grounded in the investigators' belief the items came from Robinson's home — though the towel was found in a bush at UVU; her length-based test can't resolve same-length "isoallele" sequence differences at 5–6 loci; and several swabs were consumed outright (items 1–6 yielded no DNA and can't be retested; a stairwell sample was a >5-person mixture). On cross, McBride rehabilitated: accreditation, validation across 120+ labs, proficiency testing, and — for Robinson specifically — "very strong support for inclusion" on both items (~1.7 octillion and ~30 quintillion). Separately, Graf provisionally admitted the Engelhardt statement (Ex. 5.1) on the religion-vs-political-expression question, unpublished. Court adjourned to Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. (no morning session).
Index
Witnesses — Day 2
Hull continued from Day 1; Faumuina and Baker were taken partly out of order to accommodate scheduling.
2 · Agent David Hull (continued)SBI/DPS (left for Utah POST in March 2026) · Direct: Sterk [?] · Cross: Nester · Redirect: Sterk · excused
Direct — the unaltered compilation (Ex. 11.4) & the four visits
- Visit 1 (~8:30 a.m.): silver Challenger into the parking structure; driver in a maroon/dark tee, shorts, exits on foot to the courtyard, contacts TPUSA reps, returns to the car ~9:25 a.m., drives off.
- Visit 2 (~just after 10 a.m.): returns on foot from the NE neighborhood with a blue backpack; buys food at the Chick-fil-A in the Sorenson Center; crosses into the wooded area NE of campus drive; returns without the backpack; moves to the railing giving roof access to the Losee, then back down and off campus ~just before 11.
- Visit 3: returns on foot, different clothing, walking with a limp; up the parking-structure stairs; south past the front of the Losee.
- Visit 4 (~11:15): onto the Losee exterior staircase; rolls over the railing onto the roof; runs to the SW corner; crouches, crawls, goes prone in line with Kirk's tent. Shot at 11:23:28. Stands, moves north behind the atrium to the NE corner, jumps off onto the grass carrying an object (~11:24:42), crosses campus drive, drops into the woods.
- Officer Goforth [?] (Spanish Fork PD, security detail) contacted the vehicle at campus drive/800 South, noted the partial plate on "cop intuition," later ran it — registered to Tyler and Amber Robinson — and recalled contact with a male he believed to be Robinson. Source date garbled (says "the 11th"); sequence places this ~11:30 a.m. Sept. 10.
Cross (Nester)
- Arrived ~1:30 p.m. (≈1 hr after Kirk was removed); became lead ~2:30. A bullet on another building was accounted for as an officer's ejected round. A person was in custody early — later cleared; others detained and cleared. A handgun was found in a backpack; off-duty trooper Noah Gonzales reported a gun in the holster (Ex. Hull-13, Davis's report).
- The roof video alone was not distinguishable — no face/clothing; only the stairwell/parking-garage images were released. Two young men gave video of a figure on the roof ~10 sec before the shot, describing it as "overwatch."
- The object crossing campus drive was concealed/in a bag, long, "could be a firearm" — no gun visible; no passerby reported an armed man.
- The surrender: word came from the Washington County Sheriff to the university control center the evening of Sept. 11. Until then, "we had identified a person of interest, but we did not specifically know who the shooter was." A family-connected intermediary (Nester: a former Boy Scout leader) facilitated it; Robinson went to the Washington County SD with his parents and walked in.
- Not present at the autopsy; met the ME after. Ring-camera owners (the Nobles) had told him the driver was bald and there were three other people in the car (Ex. Hull-48) — not mentioned on direct. UVU later paved over the dirt under the tent.
Redirect (Sterk)
- Rifles are carried "cruiser ready" (no round chambered); ejecting the magazine can drop a round — explaining the stray bullet. Hundreds, "if not a thousand," officers responded to clear the campus.
- The object is first clearly in Robinson's hand on the white NE corner before the jump — black, long. The rifle was recovered Sept. 10 in the wooded area Robinson entered. On the roof he ran (no limp); the limp was on the earlier approach.
3 · Sgt. Jennifer Faumuina [?]Utah SBI/DPS — Evidence Response Team lead · Direct: McBride · cross reserved (recalled later)
Direct — chain of custody
- Oversaw the crime scenes and physical evidence on Sept. 10. The screwdriver was collected by the state crime lab's response team, packaged, and turned over to the FBI for testing.
- In the wooded area NE of campus: a long gun wrapped in a dark towel — a Mauser Model 98, .30-06, bolt-action rifle. Documented in place, rendered safe, packaged. Rifle → ATF lab; towel → FBI lab; screwdriver → FBI lab.
- Sponsored Ex. 30.1, the FBI DNA report (analyst Amanda Baker): Item 7 = towel from the Mauser; Item 8 = screwdriver from the perch. Both put a two-person male mixture including roommate Lance Twiggs, with Robinson far more likely than an unknown as the second contributor (towel ~1.7 octillion×; screwdriver ~30 quintillion×). Buccal swabs were taken from Twiggs and Robinson.
4 · Amanda BakerFBI Laboratory, Quantico — forensic DNA examiner (10+ yrs) · Defense witness, out of order · Direct: Burt · ongoing at cutoff
Direct (Burt) — the limits of the DNA
- Evidence first received Sept. 11, 2025; run as priority one (24/7). A Sept. 13 comm-log entry recorded Robinson as a "possible contributor" to the towel and screwdriver; report dated Sept. 15, conforming to DOJ uniform language (Ex. Baker-7, Baker-8).
- FBI policy bars claims of absolute identification, "reasonable scientific certainty," or a zero error rate / infallibility — Baker confirmed she followed all three.
- Activity level: she cannot opine how or when DNA was deposited — presence ≠ touch. DNA can persist "indefinitely" under ideal conditions.
- Degradation: both items degraded — the screwdriver more ("ski-slope" peaks), the towel slightly. Item 7 (towel) = full profile; Item 8 (screwdriver) = partial (allele drop-out). Known samples (Twiggs, Robinson) = full.
- Mixtures / low template: both samples were mixtures with minor contributors below 20% (towel 5%/95%; screwdriver 11%/89%). She used STRmix; running it repeatedly yields different likelihood ratios (within ~a factor of 10) — not exactly reproducible.
- PCAST supports probabilistic genotyping for ≤3-person mixtures where the minor is ≥20%; Burt pressed that both samples fell below that. NIST (2024) flagged inconsistency in number-of-contributor (NOC) estimates across analysts.
- The 3→2 revision (Item 7-C): Baker's original number of contributors was three (~Sept. 12), reviewed and approved by Terry Benson. On Sept. 13, after receiving a Twiggs elimination sample, she revised to two — everything unlike the major contributor matched Twiggs, leaving nothing for a third.
- The Twiggs likelihood ratio = 1. STRmix returned an LR of exactly 1 ("uninformative") for Twiggs (a scale needs ≥2 for even "limited support," ≥1M for "very strong"). Baker did not rely on that number: she called Twiggs an "assumed contributor" via elimination-sample reasoning, based on investigators' belief the items came from Robinson's home. Burt: the towel was found in a bush at UVU, not a home.
- Isoalleles / sequence: her length-based test cannot distinguish same-length alleles with different sequences (isoalleles) at 5–6 loci; the FBI uses next-generation sequencing only for mitochondrial, not nuclear, DNA (Baker-30-4, 30-5).
- Consumed evidence: items 1–6 (Losee NE-corner swabs) were fully consumed and yielded no DNA — not retestable; item 55 (stairwell railing, two swabs combined) gave a complex mixture of >5 individuals — no conclusion. NRC (1996) and FBI policy 7.4 favor retaining a portion where possible.
- Cross (McBride): BS biology (Salisbury); 11 yrs as examiner; ANAB-accredited lab; STRmix validated (developmental + internal) and used in 120+ labs; DOJ language limits her to reporting the number and one adjective — for Robinson, "very strong support for inclusion" on both items (~1.7 octillion; ~30 quintillion).
- Redirect (Burt): PCAST (chaired by Eric Lander) held that experience and "good professional practices" can't substitute for empirical validity, and remained unpersuaded by industry validation of STRmix; a 2004 DOJ IG audit of the FBI DNA lab was referenced (Baker unaware). Baker excused; court adjourned to Wednesday 1:00 p.m.
Ledger
Exhibit Log — Day 2
New and revisited exhibits. Chips as before.
| Ex. | Item | Objection → Ruling | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.4 | Unaltered surveillance compilation — Robinson's four campus visitsPrepared overnight; no zooms/blurs/circles. Covers Sept. 10 into Sept. 11 [source says "11th & 12th"] | Fair-trial / publication → Admitted & published. Distinguished from graphic exhibits; Kearns v. Tribune / Allgier "realistic likelihood of prejudice" not met for non-graphic footage. | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| 11.1 | Enhanced compilation (zooms, blurs, red circles) — re-offered after the unaltered version came in | Authenticity + fair-trial → Admitted, but not published/played — Rule 403, cumulative (same video, enhancements only). Court reviews on screens. | ADMITTEDNOT BROADCAST |
| 5.1 | Rule 1102 statement — David Engelhardt (TPUSA; Kirk's pastor)On TPUSA's mission, Kirk's political/religious views, Matthew 19 [source also says ch. 9] | Relevance / opinion (701–702) / 403 / fair-trial → Provisionally admitted, unpublished, to be revisited on the state-of-mind question. Reading it verbatim in open court sustained; counsel may quote points. | PROVISIONALNOT PUBLISHED |
| 30.1 | FBI DNA report (analyst Amanda Baker)Item 7 towel ~1.7 octillion×; Item 8 screwdriver ~30 quintillion× — Robinson + Twiggs as likely contributors | Standing obj.; cumulative as to reading it → Overruled; brief overview allowed. | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-7 | DOJ/FBI approved standards for forensic DNA testimony & reports (defense) | Relevance → Overruled (defines limits of the opinion) | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-8 | DOJ uniform language — probabilistic genotyping systems (defense) | Relevance → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-4 p.3-65 | Technical reviewer's notes on Item 7-COriginal NOC = 3, reviewer (Terry Benson) agreed; basis for 3→2 revision | Relevance → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-4 p.1-28 | Electropherogram for Item 7Illustrates the 3-contributor call; ~150 RFU analytical threshold | Relevance → Overruled (Rule 1102(b)(4)) | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-38 p.39-44 | STRmix report — Item 7-1 vs. Twiggs aloneAssume 2 contributors; likelihood ratio = 1 (uninformative) for Twiggs | Relevance → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-30.4 | Chart of alleles found — Robinson, Twiggs, samples 7-1 & 8-1 | Relevance → Overruled, questioning time-limited | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
| Baker-30.5 | Same chart with isoalleles indicated (same length, different sequence) | Relevance → Overruled | ADMITTEDCOURTMEDIA |
Also referenced (not separately offered here): Ex. Hull-1 (Hull's Sept. 14 report), Hull-13 (Davis report incl. Gonzales interview), Hull-48 (Noble interview), clip 49 (breezeway). Defense exhibits are numbered by witness (e.g., "Baker-7").
Bench
Rulings — Day 2
Standing objection preserved without repetition
On the State's request (McBride), Graf confirmed the defense's reliable-hearsay standing objection is preserved throughout without needing to be re-stated each exhibit — while allowing the defense to raise any objection not covered by it.
Def. motion to exclude (denied) — docket 631 · Standing objection filed July 3 — docket 678
Unaltered compilation (11.4) admitted and broadcast; enhanced (11.1) admitted but not played
Graf admitted the clean version (11.4) and allowed it published to the gallery and broadcast, distinguishing it from the graphic exhibits (7/8/9) that implicated victim dignity — 11.4 "just shows the defendant walking around campus." He then admitted the enhanced version (11.1) into evidence but declined to play or broadcast it as needlessly cumulative under Rule 403, reviewing it only on the court's screens.
Utah R. Evid. 403 · UCJA 4-202.02(J) · Kearns v. Tribune Corp., 685 P.2d 515 · Allgier, 258 P.3d 589 · art. I §28 (distinguishing graphic exhibits)
Engelhardt statement (5.1) — provisionally admitted; no verbatim reading in open court
Novak argued the statement was irrelevant, improper opinion, and prejudicial — the enhancement charges Robinson targeted Kirk over political expression (subsection (k)), not religion (subsection (m)), and the statement's focus on Christian doctrine (Matthew 19) risked recasting the case as being about religion. Graf sustained the objection to McBride reading the statement aloud (counsel may quote points, as Novak did), found it relevant to the victim-targeting enhancement, and provisionally admitted it — unpublished — to be revisited if/when it bears on Robinson's state of mind. He declined to close the hearing.
Utah Code 76-3-203.14 (victim-targeting enhancement) · Utah R. Evid. 401, 701–702, 403 · Kearns v. Tribune · State v. Archuleta, 857 P.2d 234 (qualified access) · Waller v. Georgia
Scope of a preliminary hearing on DNA reliability
Through Baker's cross, Graf repeatedly reminded counsel of the probable-cause standard — the magistrate does not weigh competing inferences or make credibility findings — while allowing reliability questioning consistent with his earlier ruling that the magistrate determines the reliability of reliable hearsay. He sustained-in-part on the NIST-report line, permitting a final question before moving on.
State v. Ramirez, 2011 UT 59, ¶10 · Utah R. Evid. 1102 · Utah Const. art. I §11
Record
Cleaned Transcript — Day 2
Expand all · Collapse all — repetitive publication colloquies routed to the Day 2 Exhibit Log.
Opening — standing objection preserved; camera operators
Hull — Direct: the unaltered compilation (11.4) & the four visits
Hull — Cross (Nester): the bullet, the holster, and the surrender
Hull — Redirect (Sterk): the stray round, the object, the banner
Faumuina — Direct (McBride): chain of custody & the FBI DNA report (30.1)
Baker — Direct (Burt): priority-one testing & the reporting standards
Baker — Direct (Burt): mixtures, low template, STRmix, PCAST & NIST
Baker — Direct: the 3→2 revision & the Twiggs "elimination" sample
Baker — Direct: the STRmix likelihood ratio of 1 for Twiggs
Baker — Direct: consumed evidence, the stairwell mixture & isoalleles
Baker — Cross (McBride): credentials, validation, and "very strong support"
Baker — Redirect (Burt) & re-cross: PCAST, STRmix validation, the 2004 audit
Day 3 · Wednesday, July 8, 2026 (starts 1:00 p.m.)
Pending
Reference · Case No. 251403576
Filings & Orders
The pretrial paper trail behind the hearing — the charging document and the motions/orders the transcript keeps referencing (hearsay, cameras, the ATF ballistics fight, contempt). Utah state filings aren't on any federal system, and both XChange and DocumentCloud are access-walled, so full text is hard to harvest programmatically. Where a document is hosted here the PDF travels with this archive; otherwise the link points to the best public reporting, and the full filing can be pulled from XChange or DocumentCloud. Summaries are paraphrased; this layer is a finding aid, not a substitute for the filings themselves.
Seven counts. Count 1 — Aggravated Murder, capital (§76-5-202); Count 2 — Felony Discharge of a Firearm Causing Serious Bodily Injury, 1st-degree (§76-11-210); Counts 3–4 — Obstruction of Justice, 2nd-degree (hiding the rifle; discarding the clothing); Counts 5–6 — Tampering with a Witness, 3rd-degree (directing the roommate to delete texts, then to stay silent); Count 7 — Violent Offense in the Presence of a Child, class A misdemeanor. The victim-targeting enhancement (§76-3-203.14(2), "political expression") attaches to Counts 1, 2, and 7. Probable-cause statement by SBI Agent Brian Davis. Note: some outlets reported 9–10 counts; the operative Information charges seven.
A motion tied to forensic testing that the defense asked the court to keep private, arguing exposure could taint the jury pool. Graf later found most of it did not qualify as "private" and ordered a redacted substitute — the material now surfacing as the DNA testimony in Day 2.
Argued that broadcast coverage threatens Robinson's due-process and fair-jury rights, backed by ~200 pages of publicity exhibits. Media organizations (via David Reymann) and the State opposed; Graf allowed cameras. This is the ruling behind Reymann's recurring appearances over publication of exhibits.
Sought to remove the prosecuting office because a daughter of the chief deputy county attorney was among the roughly 3,000 people in the audience when Kirk was shot. Graf denied the motion.
The motion noted an ATF report that could not identify the bullet fragment recovered at autopsy to the recovered rifle. An ATF appendix explains "inconclusive" as insufficient individual characteristics to either identify or exclude; the fragment was too damaged, though the spent casing matched by caliber. This filing is the soft spot in the Weapon pillar and the seed of the later contempt fight.
Graf ruled the majority of the challenged filings do not qualify as "private," finding the defense hadn't shown release would create a substantial risk to a fair trial, and gave the defense until Mar 30 to file redacted substitutes.
The defense asked the Utah Supreme Court to review Graf's cameras ruling and to pause all proceedings pending that review. The Utah Attorney General's Office opposed the stay as unwarranted extraordinary relief; the high court did not halt the hearing, which proceeded July 6.
On the defense's motion, Graf ordered prosecutors to answer allegations that Jeff Gray and Chris Ballard breached the Rule 3.6 publicity order via comments to TMZ, USA Today, Fox, and PolitiFact. He stressed this was not itself a contempt finding, and declined to compel discovery of the office's internal communications.
Filed under seal for the preliminary hearing. In court the defense would not name the witness — only that it is not the victim representative — and said the witness's attorney had declined to accept service of the subpoena.
Graf denied the defense motion challenging the use of reliable hearsay / the constitutionality of Rule 1102 at a preliminary hearing. This is the ruling underlying every hearsay objection in the transcript, and the reason the "standing objection" recurs.
Graf held prosecutor Christopher Ballard in civil contempt for telling national outlets the State had "ample evidence" to prove the murder — finding a prosecutor's assertion of the case's strength carries governmental weight and risks the jury pool. He rejected striking the death penalty as "grossly disproportionate," instead ordering jury-pool expansion, adjusted questionnaires, and defense fees.
The blanket standing objection the defense invokes throughout the hearing to preserve its hearsay and reliability challenges for appeal — referenced alongside docket 631 whenever counsel says the objection is "continuing."
To host more filings inside the archive, drop their PDFs into the /filings folder beside this file and I'll wire each into the docket with a hosted here link. Upload any you can pull and I'll fold them in.