STORY: The Utah trade school student charged with murdering conservative political activist Charlie Kirk made his first in-person court appearance on Thursday ( December 11).

Tyler Robinson, 22, is accused of firing the single rifle shot from a rooftop sniper's perch that took Kirk's life on September 10 while Kirk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, was addressing a crowd on a university campus in Orem, Utah.

Judge Tony Graf closed the court to media shortly after Thursday's session began as he considered whether to limit media access to the case.

Later in the day, the judge re-opened the court and announced the defense had complained that a ban on showing Robinson's shackles or restraints had been violated by the pool livestream. Defense lawyer Staci Visser asked that the camera be banned from the courtrroom, but the judge ruled her request to be "disproportionate" and instead ordered the live camera to be moved to another location in the courtroom away from the defense table.

Robinson, arrested after a 33-hour manhunt, has been jailed without bond on charges of aggravated murder and several other criminal offenses, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: SUSPECT IN CHARLIE KIRK SHOOTING APPEARS IN COURT

REFILING TO REMOVE BRIEF VIEW OF HANDCUFF ON DEFENDANT'S LEFT ARM AND TO ADD COURT PROCEEDINGS ABOUT THE APPARENT BRIEF APPEARANCE OF THE HANDCUFF ON THE COURT-APPROVED LIVESTREAM IN THE EARLIER COURT SESSION.

SHOWS: PROVO, UTAH, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 11, 2025) (POOL- Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF SUSPECT TYLER ROBINSON SITTING IN COURT

2. (SOUNDBITE)(English) PRESIDING JUDGE TONY GRAF, SAYING:

"Court is now in session. Counsel, if you could enter your appearances, please.

3. VARIOUS OF ATTORNEYS FOR ROBINSON AND FOR MEDIA OUTLETS IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES

4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) PRESIDING JUDGE TONY GRAF, SAYING:

"So as we begin, the first part will begin by addressing the October 14th audio recording and the October 24th transcript. This portion of the hearing will be closed so that I may hear from the parties regarding which portions of the recording, the records should remain sealed. All members of the public and the press will be excused."

5. WIDE VIEW OF JUDGE IN COURT

6 (SOUNDBITE) (English) IN LATER SESSION, JUDGE TONY GRAF SAYING:

"And my understanding was during the open portion of this hearing earlier that there was a violation of the standing decorum order as it relates to transmission of these proceedings. I want to hear from counsel and and then I will make a ruling concerning that.

7.(SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBINSON DEFENSE LAWYER STACI VISSER SAYING:

"It is our understanding that those live streaming this signed and declared that they would follow the decorum order and they violated it. So we are requesting a sanction. We believe these court's orders are binding and they need to be respected. We also believe that it threatens my client's right to a fair trial. It's the whole reason we filed a motion in the first place to remove his shackles. It's our understanding that his shackles are visible. It is also our understanding that potentially some audio from council table was heard. We are definitely taking more measures on our own to ensure that that does not happen again. But there has also been some filming of computers and materials at council's desk. That's entirely inappropriate. And I think everybody in this room will agree that's entirely inappropriate. So we are asking for some remedial measures here. We're asking for it to terminate for today, and we can proceed after that"

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROSECUTION ATTORNEY SAYING:

"We believe that the court's order was very clear and if there has been a violation of that order, then we agree that there needs to be some measure taken. We'll leave it to the court to decide the appropriate response to that violation."

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDIA ATTORNEY JEFF HUNT SAYING:

""We're trying to correct as much as as we can on that, but we think termination is not an appropriate remedy. An admonishment from this court, a reminder that they need to follow to the letter. The court's EMC order is appropriate. That's the message that council has delivered.""

11. ( SOUNDBITE) (English) IN LATER SESSION, JUDGE TONY GRAF SAYING:

"I find that excluding the court the cameras from the courtroom would be disproportionate for this hearing. I find that giving making it very clear first that the transmission cannot begin until court is in session and must end before as the court ends the session and cannot be filmed before or after. The filming of as previously stated in the decorum order and EMC must be followed to the letter. The sanction for today is that this quit camera will be relocated away from defense table to to where the bailiff is, Mr. Where Jeff is standing over here. I want to immediately address any possible transmission of shackles, as previously stated by counsel, and remove the possibility of capture of screens of the computers at defense counsel's table as well. In addition, if there is further violations of the standing decorum order, this court does have the right and will exercise termination of broadcast of these proceedings."

12. WIDE VIEW OF JUDGE GRAF ON BENCH

13. VARIOUS OF TYLER ROBINSON AT DEFENSE TABLE FROM NEW CAMERA POSITION