Speaker
Graham Allen
Appearances over time
2 episodes
Episodes
2
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Lance Twiggs testified that Tyler Robinson returned home after the shooting and verbally admitted it happened, saying he wished he hadn't done it.
The Lance Twiggs video recording entered into evidence ran approximately 35 to 37 minutes, and the defense fought hard to redact large portions of it.
Graham Allen confirmed firsthand that Erica (Charlie's wife) and Charlie's parents Rob and Kathy sat together in the front row, comforting each other and contradicting online rumors of a family rift.
Graham Allen estimated roughly 40 to 50 people total were present in the courtroom including media, family, and public observers.
This is not a trial — it's a probable cause hearing with different evidentiary rules. Hearsay is permitted. There is no jury. The state only needs to show enough evidence to satisfy Judge Graf that the case warrants trial. Understanding this gap is essential to not being misled by clips of objections and procedural fireworks.
Agent Hall testified that Tyler Robinson appeared on UVU surveillance cameras four separate times on September 10th. The evidence places him on campus before, during, and after the shooting — a devastating evidentiary anchor for the prosecution.
Officer Bagley climbed to the roof of UVU's Losey Center immediately after the shooting and found a red and black screwdriver alongside gravel markings that matched someone lying prone — aimed directly at the stage where Charlie was speaking. The roof was accessible by a public stairway.
Flooding the judge with objections is a calculated death-penalty defense tactic to preserve every possible appeal ground. But it's a risky play: drown the judge in noise and your strongest objection gets lost. Andrea Burkhardt breaks down the trade-off every serious capital defense team must make.
Judge Graf rejected the state's compiled surveillance video because the analyst who added zoom-ins and red circles wasn't available to authenticate the edits. But this wasn't manipulation — it was like John Madden drawing circles on a football replay. The state plans to resubmit both the raw and annotated versions the next morning.
Graham Allen was seated six or seven feet from Tyler Robinson all day. He watched Robinson eagerly studying evidence while his defense attorney giggled beside him. In the recess rooms, Erica Kirk and Charlie's parents comforted each other. The disconnect between what actually happened in that room and what the internet reported was staggering.
In Utah, the defense cannot unilaterally waive a preliminary hearing — the prosecutor also has a right to present the state's case publicly. Even if the defense wanted to skip it, the prosecution likely would have refused. Andrea Burkhardt explains the strategic calculus on both sides.
Exhibit 16 on the state's public list is a recorded statement from Lance Twigs, identified as Tyler Robinson's lover. The judge previously ruled Twigs did not need to be subpoenaed since the video would suffice. Andrea Burkhardt predicts the judge will allow it to be played, given his track record of limited deference to defense suppression arguments.
A defense with a genuine factual innocence case shouts it early and often. They use every piece of public information they can to shape opinion. The Tyler Robinson defense team has done the opposite — pure procedural obstruction, no affirmative innocence narrative. For a seasoned litigator like Burkhardt, that absence is loud.
The Tyler Robinson defense is demanding the source code for a proprietary DNA deconvolution software program to challenge the forensic analysis. The problem: the software is owned by a New Zealand or Australian government entity. A US state court cannot subpoena a foreign sovereign. Andrea Burkhardt walks through why this is legally thorny — and why the internet will almost certainly misread it.
The medical examiner's report, referenced through police testimony at the preliminary hearing, lists Charlie Kirk's cause of death as homicide by gunshot wound to the neck. Exploding microphone theories and other alternative narratives are officially ruled out by the forensic record.
Online rumors have claimed Erica Kirk and Charlie's parents are on opposite sides. Graham Allen, who sat in the same front row as all of them, calls it total garbage. They were comforting each other throughout the day and stayed together in every recess room.
Tyler Robinson returned home after the shooting, and his roommate Lance Twiggs asked him point-blank if what he'd texted was real. Robinson said yes — and said he wished he hadn't done it. It is the most direct human confirmation of guilt in the entire case so far.
DNA from the rifle's stock, grip, and bolt was at least one trillion times more likely to have come from Tyler Robinson than from four unrelated individuals. This is the scientific spine of the state's case — and it's almost impossible to argue away.
When shown the FBI's press release images of the campus suspect, Lance Twiggs said: 'That definitely looks like Tyler Robinson.' He identified the shoes, sunglasses, and clothing style as consistent with Robinson's typical appearance — a powerful lay identification from someone who knew him intimately.
Analysis
What they talk about
- True Crime 86%
- Society & Culture 14%
Connections
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