Charlie Kirk’s accused killer lost his bid to force his turncoat trans lover to testify next month, a judge ordered Monday.
Utah Judge Tony Graf denied alleged assassin Tyler Robinson’s request to force Lance Twiggs, 22, to appear in a Provo courtroom for a multi-day hearing next month.
Prosecutors said they planned to show an April 20 video interview that Twiggs had with investigators at the July 6 preliminary hearing — a court procedure which is a substitute for a grand jury indictment after which Graf will determine if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
Robinson’s lawyers argued that since Twiggs’ interview was going to be shown to the judge, they should have the opportunity to grill him live in the courtroom — including to ask about his partial immunity agreement for turning on Robinson, who allegedly confessed to the killing in texts with Twiggs.
Graf found that Twiggs, who lives out of state, didn’t need to be dragged into court for the early-stage hearing meant simply to establish probable cause that Robinson killed the conservative podcaster.
Graf said any cross-examination that Robinson’s team wants to conduct on Twiggs can take place if he’s called at trial.
Twiggs has told law enforcement that Robinson texted him admitting to the public shooting, to hiding the gun he used, tossing the clothes he wore at the time and asking Twiggs not to tell the cops, prosecutors claimed.
Robinson is accused of publicly shooting the Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem on Sept. 10.
Robinson hasn’t yet entered a plea in the case. That is expected to come after Graf rules on whether the case can move forward to trial.
The judge has said he plans to issue another major ruling in the case on Friday on Robinson’s request to hold prosecutors in contempt for allegedly violating a gag order. The defense has asked Graf to take the death penalty off the table for the alleged infraction by the prosecution.
