Preliminary Hearing
The preliminary hearing in State of Utah v. Tyler Robinson (Case No. 251403576) ran across a week of sessions (07/06–07/10/2026) before Judge Tony F. Graf, Jr. in the Fourth District Court in Provo. This is the stage where the State must show probable cause to bind the capital case over for trial — and where the inconclusive ATF ballistics, the rooftop perch, the autopsy, and the Lance Twiggs phone and video evidence were first tested under oath and cross-examination.
Calendar + all case dates: Days in Court. Witness roster: People on Witness Stand.
Each day below links to a full, color-coded transcript of that session's proceedings — every speaker in their own color, every named person, exhibit, and location hyperlinked to its investigation page. Robinson is charged, not convicted; the testimony is quoted, not adopted as fact.
The Hearing Days (transcript files + calendar)
Day 1 — Rooftop & Autopsy
Officer Bagley describes the Losee Center rooftop perch; Agent Hull authenticates surveillance video and autopsy evidence.
Day 2 — Forensics & Cross
Agent Hull's surveillance cross-examination; FBI DNA analyst Bakker examined on the towel, screwdriver, and Robinson–Twiggs evidence.
Day 3 — The Twiggs Video
Agent Brian Davis testifies on Robinson's surrender; the parties fight over publishing Twiggs' recorded video interview.
Day 4 — Ballistics & the Rifle · calendar 07/09/2026
Davis reads the Twiggs confession texts; Jennifer Faumuina details the rifle recovery; ATF's Samantha Karner on inconclusive ballistics.
Calendar 07/10/2026 — Day 5
ATF DNA chief Caitlin Oliver; State rests; bind-over argument set 09/01/2026. (Press day-5 wrap; late-week forensics also appear in the Day 4 transcript file.)
Calendar map: 07/06 · 07/07 · 07/08 · 07/09 · 07/10
What the Hearing Decides
A preliminary hearing is not a trial. The judge does not decide guilt; he decides only whether the State has shown enough evidence for the case to proceed. That lower bar is why the defense spent four days attacking the reliability of the State's forensics rather than offering an alternative story — most sharply through ATF firearm examiner Samantha Karner, whose bullet-jacket comparison to the seized Mauser was inconclusive, and through repeated challenges to the chain of custody on the phone, the Discord messages, and the rooftop DNA.
The evidentiary spine the State built runs across the four days: the rooftop shooting position and campus surveillance (Day 1), the DNA and surveillance forensics (Day 2), Robinson's surrender and booking with the disputed Twiggs interview (Day 3), and the confession texts, rifle recovery, and ballistics (Day 4). Readers weighing the case against Tyler Robinson should read the transcripts alongside the ATF inconclusive fragment and the Miranda / Discord timing analyses.
After the State rested on Day 4, Judge Graf set a bind-over briefing schedule with oral argument in September 2026 — meaning the decision on whether Robinson stands trial was deferred, not delivered, at the close of these sessions. Watch the Court & Trial index and the 2026 timeline for the ruling.
Interesting In This Area
- Exactly seven people took the live stand, and the defense called three of them.
- The defense attacked reliability rather than offering an alternative account.
- The judge deferred the decision, setting oral argument for September.
- The ballistics evidence the state leaned on identified and excluded nothing.
Interesting In Other Areas
- The fragment result is the single most quoted line from the week.
- The rooftop position supplied the physical scene the first two days argued about.
- The 2026 timeline places these five days inside the wider docket.
- None of it addressed the mechanism independent investigators identified.
Other Pages In This Section
Preliminary Hearing — Day 1 (July 2026)
The opening day, verbatim: camera protocol, then the officer who reached the Losee Center roof and described disturbed gravel, a screwdriver and a shoe print — with his body-worn camera no longer recording. The state's lead agent follows and begins authenticating the surveillance. Read the words rather than the clips cut from them.
Read thisThe verbatim fourth day: a tiered ruling on which exhibits the gallery and the cameras were allowed to see, the immunised roommate interview played in open court, the wooded-area rifle walkthrough, and an ATF examiner calling the jacket comparison inconclusive. The state rested at the end of it. Read the words rather than the headlines about them.
Read thisWho Testified — Hearing Witnesses
Sworn hearing testimony and an on-camera interview are not the same thing, and treating them as one is the most common error in commentary about this case. This roster covers only the people who took the stand under oath, what their testimony addressed, and on which day. Appearing on it is not an accusation.
Read thisBallistics — ATF Inconclusive & CBLA
The ATF could not match the recovered jacket fragment to the seized Mauser. This page separates a casing from a fragment and explains why that distinction decides a great deal.
Read thisElsewhere In The Investigation
The court year. Judge Graf's rulings, the March fight to seal the inconclusive ATF report, the April discovery stall, a June contempt finding, and five days of preliminary hearing in July.
Read thisATF Fragment — Inconclusive Match
The state's own September 17, 2025 ATF report could neither identify nor exclude the seized Mauser as the source of the autopsy jacket fragment. The rifling matched "numerous makes and models" — a class, not a weapon. The defense reportedly calls that exculpatory, and it is a large part of why independent work has moved toward a device at the podium.
Read this
Losee Center (Alleged Sniper Rooftop)
The roof the government says the shot came from. Every part of it — line of sight, the lip, the drop, the screwdriver — has been measured by people who do not accept that account.
Read this
One page stating what most independent investigators had concluded by July 2026 about what killed Charlie Kirk and what did not. The official account is a single .30-06 round; this is where the reasons for rejecting it are gathered.
Read thisThis website's author is @HolonCitizen on X and YouTube/@HolonCitizen. Follow me there.
Interesting
- The defense team alone is projected past $750,000, with $1.3 million total.
- Outside security teams were reportedly on the phone during the critical minutes.
- The case's most-quoted line has never been produced in any form.