One of the aggravating circumstances for Tyler Robinson's murder charge alleges he targeted Charlie Kirk because of Kirk's social and political views. Robinson's lawyer Richard Novak argued on Tuesday that no evidence shows Robinson knew of Kirk's views or said anything about him before he told his roommate and romantic partner in a text message, "I had enough of his hatred. Some hatred can't be negotiated out." "It is true that Mr. Kirk spoke hatefully of certain groups of people. 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. His comments drew responses from prosecutors and a lawyer for Kirk's family. "First of all, the state takes great exception with Mr. Novak attributing all of this hate to Mr. Kirk during his argument today," said Chad Grunander, the chief of Utah County Attorney's Office criminal division. Kirk "had an opinion that he would express on politics and religion." "That doesn't make it hate, but the fact that Mr. Novak even considered it as hate makes the case for the state. In his client's own words, he hated what Mr. Kirk stood for," Grunander said. Attorney Jeffrey Neiman said Kirk "devoted his life to building a community of over a million young people rooted in faith and freedom." "He had hard conversations others were too afraid to have. Charlie was the opposite of hate. Charlie was the opposite of hate. Firing a bullet into a crowd and assassinating him? That is hate," said Neiman, who represents Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents, Kathryn and Robert Kirk. Neiman said the U.S. Constitution "guarantees criminal defendants many rights" but "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," Neiman said. "We have no doubt this court will give the defendant a fair trial. We ask that it do so swiftly. Delay creates a vacuum, and vacuums fill with speculation that distorts public understanding and erodes confidence in the courts, and that serves nobody: not the defendant, not the state, and not the public," Neiman said. "So the Kirk family respectfully asked this court to set the status conference promptly and to set this trial as soon as practically possible." Judge Tony F. Graft Jr. scheduled a pre-trial conference for Oct. 23 in Provo, Utah. Robinson faces a possible death sentence if convicted of aggravated murder for fatally shooting Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, as he spoke at the Utah Valley University campus in Orem for an event for his organization Turning Point USA. He's charged with seven crimes: aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony; two counts of obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; two counts of tampering with a witness, third-degree felonies; and a misdemeanor count of violence committed in the presence of a child. The murder charge's primary aggravator is knowingly creating a great risk of death to others. The other aggravators are commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child and victim targeting / hate-motivated. #law #crime #court - @meghannmcuniff