PROVO, Utah — A Utah judge ruled Tuesday that Tyler Robinson must stand trial on all charges in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, keeping the death penalty on the table after prosecutors said they had assembled "a mountain of evidence" tying the 23-year-old defendant to the September 2025 campus shooting.

Fourth District Judge Tony Graf found probable cause on seven counts, including aggravated murder, after a day of closing arguments that followed a five-day preliminary hearing in July. Robinson, through counsel, entered not guilty pleas at a brief arraignment that followed the ruling. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek a death sentence if he is convicted.

Kirk, 31, the founder of Turning Point USA and a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, was shot once in the neck on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking to a crowd of about 3,000 people at an open-air event at Utah Valley University in Orem. Investigators say the shot was fired from a rooftop more than 400 feet away. Robinson turned himself in the next day.

Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, sat in the courtroom as Graf delivered the decision. Robinson's mother also attended. The next hearing is set for Oct. 23, when the court is expected to schedule a trial date.

Here are eight takeaways from the proceedings.

1. The judge sent every count to trial and left capital punishment available.

Graf bound Robinson over on aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering, and a misdemeanor count of committing a violent offense in the presence of a child.

The defense had asked the judge to reject the aggravating factor that makes the murder charge a capital offense: the allegation that firing into a crowded event created a great risk of death to people besides Kirk. Defense attorney Staci Visser argued prosecutors were trying to "shoehorn" the case into Utah's aggravated-murder statute.

"There is one shot. There is one bullet. There is one victim," Visser said. "There is zero evidence that there was any action taken towards other people."

Graf disagreed. He said the positions of people in and........

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