The atmosphere inside the courtroom changed almost instantly when Tyler Robinson’s defense attorney turned his attention to the victim, accusing Charlie Kirk of “speaking hatefully of certain groups of people.”
Kirk’s loved ones visibly shook their heads in disagreement. His widow, Erika Kirk, sat crying in the gallery as the woman beside her, also in tears, reached over and rubbed her back in consolation.
The prosecution says it has evidence that Robinson hated Kirk.
When his boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, asked Robinson why he did it, according to a text message released by prosecutors, he replied, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
The state argued that Robinson “targeted” Kirk because his “belief or perception of Mr. Kirk’s political beliefs is overwhelming.”
“The defense would have the Court believe that Mr. Kirk was only a religious evangelist,” the filing said. But as founder of the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, Kirk believed that “traditional American values” are “synonymous with ‘the classical orthodox-Christian position on marriage, family, gender, and sexual being,’” combining both a political and religious message.
On Tuesday, defense attorney Richard Novak appeared to call Charlie Kirk’s beliefs and statements “hate.”
“He spoke hatefully of people who don’t have traditional, norm-conforming gender identities. He spoke hatefully of people who are not strictly heterosexual. He spoke hatefully of people who have sexual relationships out of marriage,” Novak said.
Novak’s point was that even if Kirk had made critical remarks about certain groups, and even if Robinson was in a same-sex relationship with Twiggs, who Novak described as “non-gender conforming,” that alone did not establish that those views were the source of Robinson’s stated hatred for Kirk, or reason for allegedly targeting him.
“I think that the state has utterly failed to prove that there is a particular political expression that Mr. Robinson took issue with,” he said. “We all know, because we live in the real world, the kinds of things that Mr. Kirk said, which some people find hateful.”
The prosecution and the legal counsel for the Kirk family did not let the comments slide.
Kirk “had an opinion that he would express on politics and religion,” Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander said on Tuesday. “That doesn’t make it hate, but the fact that Mr. Novak even considered it as hate makes the case for the state. (Robinson) hated Charlie Kirk. He hated what he stood for, and he took him out because of it.”
The Kirk family lawyer, Jeffrey Neiman, added that “Charlie was the opposite of hate.”
Erika cried and nodded her head in agreement as Neiman spoke. Kirk’s mother, next to her, was visibly emotional as well.
Continuing, Neiman said, “Firing a bullet into a crowd and assassinating him? That is hate. And the United States Constitution guarantees criminal defendants many rights. The right to delay is not among them. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial, and he must be given one, but nothing more is owed.”
Friends of Kirk have been very outspoken against Novak’s comments following the hearing, calling them “sick” and “vile.”
Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” listened inside the courtroom on Tuesday when the comments were made.
A day later on the podcast, he commended Neiman’s comments, saying he ”did an incredible job summing up what should be plainly obvious to everybody — You don’t go into court and spit on the grave of the dead guy, of the victim here.”