PROVO, Utah — A lawyer for the accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson drew rebukes inside and outside the courtroom Tuesday over remarks that painted the victim as the one behaving “hatefully” before he was shot and killed in front of thousands of people during a public speaking event at Utah Valley University.
“I think what the defense attorney said regarding Charlie Kirk and that he was full of hate, that was so unprofessional,” said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based criminal defense attorney who has been following the case. “That was so out of left field that he honestly — he should be embarrassed of what he said.”
Robinson, 23, is accused of assassinating the 31-year-old father of two at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, as Kirk was speaking in front of thousands of onlookers during a Turning Point USA event on campus.
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“Mr. Kirk spoke hatefully of certain groups of people,” California-based defense attorney Richard Novak claimed during his argument against binding over the case for trial. He went on to say that there was a “significant gap” between what Kirk stood for and what Robinson felt about him.
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As Novak repeated the phrase, Kirk’s parents, widow and other relatives were in court. They exchanged looks and some teared up. Erika Kirk leaned forward and said something to an aide with the county attorney’s office.
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“You don’t ever and I mean ever say that, No. 1, as a defense attorney or a prosecutor, especially not even at a trial,” Gelman said. “If you want to paint Charlie as a bad person in front of the jury, knock your socks off. Do whatever you think you have to do. But to do that at a preliminary hearing…when you have the victim’s family all there, that was totally uncalled for.”
Chief Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander and Kirk family attorney Jeffrey Neiman both pushed back on Novak’s comments in front of the judge.
“The state takes great exception with Mr. Novak attributing all of this ‘hate’ to Mr. Kirk during his argument today,” Grunander said in his rebuttal. “None of what was presented during the preliminary hearing [shows] that he is hateful towards this group or hateful towards that group. He had an opinion that he would express on politics and religion. That doesn’t make it hate, but the fact that Mr. Novak even considered as hate makes the case for the state in his client’s own words, he hated what Mr. Kirk stood for.”
Neiman told the court that Kirk had made a career out of having “hard conversations” on difficult topics.
“Charlie was the opposite of hate,” he said. “Firing a bullet into a crowd and assassinating him. That is hate.”
In text messages prosecutors allege Robinson sent to Twiggs, the sender also accused Kirk of “hate.”
Lance Twiggs, Robinson’s roommate and romantic partner at the time, has been a key witness for prosecutors, who allege that Robinson confessed the crime and apparent motive to him.
“Why did I do it?” Robinson allegedly wrote to Twiggs after the slaying. “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Robinson’s defense team for comment.
“Charlie Kirk was not full of hatred,” Gelman said. “If anything, he was full of love…He brought people together. He was there doing a free speech event, all right? He’s trying to bring people on the left on the right together.”
Judge Tony Graf Jr. bound over all charges to district court for trial Tuesday, including the death penalty-eligible charge of aggravated murder.
Robinson is due back in court on Oct. 23 for a pretrial conference , where Graf may set a trial date.
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His attorney, Kathy Nester, entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to all charges at an arraignment Tuesday.
Fox News’ Amalia Roy and Jesse Watson contributed to this report.