The bullet suspected of fatally striking Charlie Kirk in the neck may not have come from the rifle of suspect Tyler Robinson, his attorneys claim.
Tyler Robinson faces the death penalty for his alleged role in shooting the Conservative icon as he spoke at Utah Valley University.
But his defence now claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ‘was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr Robinson’.
The FBI is running additional tests, according to court documents, with the defence wanting six months to analyse all the thousands of documents.
‘The defence team has devoted, and will continue to devote, significant resources to processing discovery, including identifying materials not yet received to inform readiness for the preliminary hearing,’ the filing states.
‘However, the defence team is realistic and the comprehensive review required to determine what is missing will take hundreds of hours.’
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‘What is known at present is that Mr Robinson has not yet received the forensic case files and data necessary to investigate, through the use of qualified experts, the scientific reports the state intends to introduce at the preliminary hearing,’ the attorneys continued.
Prosecutors have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing and two unfired cartridges.
Defence attorneys note that forensic reports indicate multiple people’s DNA was found on some items, which they say requires a more complex analysis.
Robinson reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he ‘had enough of his hatred,’ prosecutors have claimed.
It came as the sherriff who convinced Robinson to hand himself in has resigned and retired.
Sheriff Nate Brooksby after complaints ‘from individuals who were concerned with operations at the sheriff’s office,’ Deputy County Attorney Courtney Sinagra told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Sinagra said Brooksby resigned as a consequence of the complaints, adding that he disagreed with them.
‘Part of the negotiation of getting him to bring himself in was that, that we would treat it as delicate and as soft as possible to make him feel comfortable to where he would show up at my office,’ Brooksby said after Robinson turned himself in and was arrested.
Who is Tyler Robinson?
Mr Cox told reporters the suspect had lived for a long time with his family in Washington County in the southwest corner of Utah, near the Arizona and Nevada borders.
Robinson did not appear to have any criminal history, according to state records.
He was a registered voter but was not affiliated with a political party, according to voter records.
He is listed as an ‘inactive’ voter, which indicates he did not cast a ballot in last year’s presidential election, when Republican Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris.
At the time of the shooting, he was a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, part of Utah’s public university system.
An honour roll student in high school who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardised tests, he was admitted to Utah State University in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter posted to a family member’s social media account.
He attended for only one semester, according to a university spokesperson. He’s now enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St George.
A neighbour, Steven Green, said he knew the family from attending the same Mormon church down the street.
‘Great family, good kids,’ he said, though he added he did not know Tyler Robinson well.
Canaan Timothy, 21, said he was in the year below Robinson at high school. Robinson, he said, was just a regular student with an interest in music, who hung out with members of the school band.
‘I knew him in passing. Just your average kid,’ said Timothy, who lives two blocks from the Robinson family.
‘Tyler, he was quiet, but not too quiet.’
Robinson is set to have another hearing in court on a defence motion to ban cameras from the courtroom on April 17.