Judge Tony Graf in 4th District Court presides over a hearing for Tyler Robinson, accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, on Friday, April 17, 2026. (Trent Nelson /The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A defense witness in the prosecution of the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk said Friday that conjecture in the media about his courtroom demeanor and alleged confessions are making it impossible for Tyler Robinson to get a fair trial.

The testimony from defense team consultant Bryan Edelman came as Robinson’s attorneys pressed a Utah judge to ban cameras from his case. They say live broadcasts of the proceedings are feeding into speculative stories and tainting potential jurors.

Robinson’s parents sat behind him in the half-full courtroom. His father lowered his head and stared at his hands while prosecutors played a Fox News clip in which a commentator identified as a former FBI agent opined that Robinson was a sociopath.

“It's creating outside the courtroom a reality TV show,” said Edelman, a social psychologist who has a California-based trial consulting business. “I think it creates pressure on everybody to have cameras in here, from the jury to everyone involved."

Media organizations, prosecutors and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, want the court to allow cameras. They argue transparency is the best way to guard against the misinformation and conspiracy theories that concern Robinson’s defense team.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for Robinson if he's convicted in the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk, 31, a conservative activist who was addressing a crowd of thousands on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem when he was shot in the neck.

Robinson, who turned 23 on Thursday, has not yet entered a plea. A trial date has not been set.

Cameras moved to the back of the room

Media sensationalism around the case has cut both ways. In a March 30 headline, the U.K.-based Daily Mail reported the bullet that killed Kirk “did NOT match” a rifle allegedly used by Robinson. The story was based on an inconclusive, preliminary finding by ballistics experts and led to speculation about Robinson's possible exoneration. The FBI is running additional tests, according to court documents.

Utah County prosecutor Chad Grunander noted that nearly all of the clips Edelman showed as examples of media bias did not actually include material from the courtroom livestream.

Still, livestreaming by media outlets has tested the patience of Judge Tony Graf.

During a December hearing, Graf temporarily stopped the livestream after it showed the defendant’s shackles in violation of a courtroom decorum order.

A January hearing was interrupted when Robinson's attorneys said close-up shots of Robinson being livestreamed by a local television station could again lead to claims based on lip reading. That, too, was a violation of Graf's decorum order. The judge ordered the camera operator not to film Robinson for the remainder of the hearing.

In recent hearings and again Friday, pool cameras for the media were stationed at the rear of the courtroom, behind Robinson. Graf also made camera operators come before him to acknowledge they understand the rules.

Mike Judd, a lawyer for a coalition of media organizations including The Associated Press that are fighting to preserve access, said Graf so far has focused on whether his rules inside the courtroom are being followed, not what the media is saying outside of court.

“The court can do all of that in order to try to control what gets fed into that media ecosystem,” Judd said. “You reduce the likelihood of somebody publishing things that you think may be of potentially biasing concern later on.”

Policies on cameras and livestreaming vary among states. Cameras are generally prohibited in federal courts.

“There's Supreme Court precedent that says courts generally need to be open to the public, but that's not an absolute right,” said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown. “Even if they allow public access, that does not equal a right to broadcast or record.”

Surveillance video and a handwritten confession

The preliminary hearing scheduled for May is for prosecutors to show they have enough evidence to proceed to trial. Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.

But the defense argued Friday it cannot move forward with the hearing until law enforcement agencies turn over more details about their DNA analysis of evidence.

Prosecutors responded that they have sufficient proof beyond DNA to tie Robinson to Kirk's killing. That includes surveillance video of Robinson near the university from the morning of the shooting wearing the same clothes as when he turned himself in. Robinson left a handwritten note for his romantic partner confessing to the crime before it happened, and also confessed to friends on the chatroom platform Discord, prosecutors said.

Rescheduling the preliminary hearing could delay the proceedings six months, Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride said.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” he added.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

News from © The Associated Press, 2026