Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf, right, ordered the release of a transcript — with some redactions — from an Oct. 24 closed-door hearing concerning the case against Tyler Robinson, left, accused of shooting conservative Christian speaker Charlie Kirk Sept. 10. (Rick Egan – pool / Getty Images; Rick Egan – pool / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders December 29, 2025 at 6:18pm
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk took place in full view of the public.
In a court ruling on Monday, the judge overseeing the case against Kirk’s alleged killer declared that the public will be able to access the contents of a hearing that had previously been sealed.
But Judge Tony Graf also ruled that some elements will remain out of the public eye.
🚨JUST IN: Judge overseeing case of Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin allows media to access redacted transcript of Tyler Robinson’s closed-door hearing.
Judge Tony Graf: “The public has a presumptive right to access court records” pic.twitter.com/DaOmp45cWd
— Outnumbered (@OutnumberedFNC) December 29, 2025
According to NBC News, Graf ruled on Monday that the transcript and audio from an Oct. 24 hearing in the case against accused gunman Tyler Robinson will be largely open to the public.
The records had previously been sealed.
The hearing in question revolved around media access to proceedings against Robinson, according to the New York Post.
Robinson’s attorneys want to limit pre-trial publicity, claiming coverage could taint the judgment of prospective jurors.
News media organizations have argued for full access to the hearings. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has come down on the side of transparency in the legal case against the man suspected of killing her husband.
Monday’s ruling was largely a victory for those favoring public access.
Charlie Kirk suspect Tyler Robinson’s secret hearings to be made public after judge’s order https://t.co/A4fjaO9j6J pic.twitter.com/kqax4ghDeN
— New York Post (@nypost) December 29, 2025
“After full consideration of these arguments, the court determined that 246 words, approximately one page of the 80 page transcript should be redacted,” Graf ruled, according to NBC.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot Sept. 10 while on stage at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, south of Salt Lake City.
It was an act of political violence that sent shock waves through the conservative end of the political spectrum — and elicited cheers from leftists.
Robinson, 22, was arrested the next day after his family alerted authorities.
Robinson was reportedly romantically involved with his “transgender” roommate — a man who identifies as a woman — and shot Kirk “because of his hatred of what Charlie stood for,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News in September.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
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