Utah
Prosecutors say bullet engraving shows Charlie Kirk was targeted for his politics
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Charlie Kirk ‘s killing pointed Tuesday to an engraved bullet, arguing that the inscription “Hey Facist! CATCH!” demonstrates that Kirk was targeted for how the defendant perceived his politics.
Whether defendant Tyler Robinson acted out of political animus could be key for prosecutors seeking the death penalty — or for his attorneys in taking that punishment off the table.
The prosecution and defense have filed dueling documents focused on whether the crime included aggravating factors that would make Robinson eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Those include political targeting and whether the shooting endangered thousands of others who attended Kirk’s Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University.
Robinson is charged with crimes including aggravated murder and has not yet entered a plea. The 23-year-old defendant turned himself in a day after the shooting.
The latest batch of court documents follows a five-day preliminary hearing in July, when prosecutors presented what they said was “overwhelming” evidence against Robinson, while defense attorneys worked to sow doubt about analysts’ findings.
Judge Tony Graf said he will decide if the case should advance to trial after he hears again from both sides on Sept. 1.
In a document filed late Tuesday, prosecutors argued the engraved bullet found in the suspected murder weapon was an “overt political reference.” They also noted that Robinson allegedly wrote in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Robinson’s attorneys have argued that the text message is not strong enough evidence to prove a political motivation. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment on prosecutors’ new filing.
Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.
Prosecutors contend that Kirk’s opposition to same-sex marriage and gender-affirming care stood in sharp contrast to Robinson, who was reportedly in a romantic relationship with his roommate, Lance Twiggs. Twiggs told investigators he had considered a gender transition around the time of Kirk’s killing, according to prosecutors.
A handwritten note that prosecutors allege Robinson left for Twiggs read in part, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”
In a recorded interview shown in court last month, Twiggs said he had never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. Robinson also did not talk much about gender issues or LGBTQ+ rights, but he did sometimes talk about politics, including Trump, Twiggs told investigators.
The Associated Press emailed Twiggs’ attorney seeking comment.
During the July hearing, investigators presented DNA analyses that they said linked Robinson to both the suspected murder weapon and a tool he allegedly used to engrave the bullet cartridges. Robinson’s attorneys repeatedly questioned the reliability of DNA tests and other evidence.
Defense attorneys also have argued against a possible sentence enhancement for endangering others, saying the shooter “hit the intended target.” Prosecutors said numerous people were within a “zone of danger” around Kirk when he was shot from a rooftop.
Ohio
Death row inmate gets a rare chance to ask parole board for a pardon
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Tyrone Noling has spent 30 years on death row for the double murder of an elderly Ohio couple that he insists he didn’t commit. He had a rare chance Tuesday to make his case for a full pardon to the Ohio Parole Board.
Noling, 54, of Alliance, assembled a growing body of evidence — with the support of the Ohio Innocence Project — to present at his clemency hearing. That includes recanted witness testimony, changed stances by the sheriff and one of the jurors at his trial, and clues pointing to an already executed killer as the possible perpetrator.
His case has been the subject of documentaries and true-crime podcasts and garnered celebrity attention from Kim Kardashian and actors Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who all support his exoneration.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the first for an Ohio death row inmate since 2020, the parole board will issue its recommendation to Gov. Mike DeWine, who has the final say. DeWine, a Republican, called in June for abolishment of the death penalty — saying his stance has changed because he no longer views capital punishment as a deterrent to violent crime.
Death row inmates don’t typically land clemency hearings until they have an execution date, which Noling does not, so winning Tuesday’s hearing was a victory. He seeks release from prison and has said he would not accept a commutation to life without parole for a crime he didn’t commit.
Noling was convicted in the April 5, 1990, killings of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81, at their Portage County home. The couple’s bodies were discovered on the kitchen floor of their Atwater Township home by a neighbor who noticed their lawn mower had been in front of their home for several days. Bearnhardt Hartig had been shot three times and his wife five times with a .25-caliber automatic handgun. The house had been ransacked.
Authorities said Noling, who had just turned 18 at the time, was part of a group involved in home robberies of elderly couples. Three others in the group — 14, 15 and 16 at the time — implicated Noling in the slayings of the Hartigs during a burglary but later retracted their statements, saying that police pressured them to name Noling as the shooter.
Initial aggravated burglary charges brought against Noling were dropped in 1992, but a grand jury reindicted him in 1995 for the Hartig murders. He was sentenced to death in 1996.
No physical evidence tied him to the crime, and no murder weapon was ever found. Noling’s advocates say evidence, including law enforcement notes and a cigarette butt found in the Hartigs’ driveway, points to two other potential suspects. One is Dan Wilson, who was executed by lethal injection in Ohio in 2009 for a different crime. Noling’s lawyers wrote in court documents that a man told authorities that his foster brother, Wilson, bragged about committing the crime.
Former Portage County Sheriff Ken Howe, now 83, will be among a long line of witnesses testifying on Noling’s behalf at Tuesday’s hearing. In an Associated Press interview, he said that there were red flags at the time, and evidence that’s piled up since then has persuaded him to take Noling’s side.
“I believe that these boys were, and are, innocent,” he said.
Following the hearing, the board will deliberate in executive session and is expected to deliver a recommendation to the governor by Aug. 25.
Prosecutors say bullet engraving shows Charlie Kirk was targeted for his politics
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Charlie Kirk ‘s killing pointed Tuesday to an engraved bullet, arguing that the inscription “Hey Facist! CATCH!” demonstrates that Kirk was targeted for how the defendant perceived his politics.
Whether defendant Tyler Robinson acted out of political animus could be key for prosecutors seeking the death penalty — or for his attorneys in taking that punishment off the table.
The prosecution and defense have filed dueling documents focused on whether the crime included aggravating factors that would make Robinson eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Those include political targeting and whether the shooting endangered thousands of others who attended Kirk’s Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University.
Robinson is charged with crimes including aggravated murder and has not yet entered a plea. The 23-year-old defendant turned himself in a day after the shooting.
The latest batch of court documents follows a five-day preliminary hearing in July, when prosecutors presented what they said was “overwhelming” evidence against Robinson, while defense attorneys worked to sow doubt about analysts’ findings.
Judge Tony Graf said he will decide if the case should advance to trial after he hears again from both sides on Sept. 1.
In a document filed late Tuesday, prosecutors argued the engraved bullet found in the suspected murder weapon was an “overt political reference.” They also noted that Robinson allegedly wrote in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Robinson’s attorneys have argued that the text message is not strong enough evidence to prove a political motivation. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment on prosecutors’ new filing.
Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.
Prosecutors contend that Kirk’s opposition to same-sex marriage and gender-affirming care stood in sharp contrast to Robinson, who was reportedly in a romantic relationship with his roommate, Lance Twiggs. Twiggs told investigators he had considered a gender transition around the time of Kirk’s killing, according to prosecutors.
A handwritten note that prosecutors allege Robinson left for Twiggs read in part, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I took it.”
In a recorded interview shown in court last month, Twiggs said he had never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. Robinson also did not talk much about gender issues or LGBTQ+ rights, but he did sometimes talk about politics, including Trump, Twiggs told investigators.
The Associated Press emailed Twiggs’ attorney seeking comment.
During the July hearing, investigators presented DNA analyses that they said linked Robinson to both the suspected murder weapon and a tool he allegedly used to engrave the bullet cartridges. Robinson’s attorneys repeatedly questioned the reliability of DNA tests and other evidence.
Defense attorneys also have argued against a possible sentence enhancement for endangering others, saying the shooter “hit the intended target.” Prosecutors said numerous people were within a “zone of danger” around Kirk when he was shot from a rooftop.
Ohio
Death row inmate gets a rare chance to ask parole board for a pardon
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Tyrone Noling has spent 30 years on death row for the double murder of an elderly Ohio couple that he insists he didn’t commit. He had a rare chance Tuesday to make his case for a full pardon to the Ohio Parole Board.
Noling, 54, of Alliance, assembled a growing body of evidence — with the support of the Ohio Innocence Project — to present at his clemency hearing. That includes recanted witness testimony, changed stances by the sheriff and one of the jurors at his trial, and clues pointing to an already executed killer as the possible perpetrator.
His case has been the subject of documentaries and true-crime podcasts and garnered celebrity attention from Kim Kardashian and actors Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who all support his exoneration.
Following Tuesday’s hearing, the first for an Ohio death row inmate since 2020, the parole board will issue its recommendation to Gov. Mike DeWine, who has the final say. DeWine, a Republican, called in June for abolishment of the death penalty — saying his stance has changed because he no longer views capital punishment as a deterrent to violent crime.
Death row inmates don’t typically land clemency hearings until they have an execution date, which Noling does not, so winning Tuesday’s hearing was a victory. He seeks release from prison and has said he would not accept a commutation to life without parole for a crime he didn’t commit.
Noling was convicted in the April 5, 1990, killings of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81, at their Portage County home. The couple’s bodies were discovered on the kitchen floor of their Atwater Township home by a neighbor who noticed their lawn mower had been in front of their home for several days. Bearnhardt Hartig had been shot three times and his wife five times with a .25-caliber automatic handgun. The house had been ransacked.
Authorities said Noling, who had just turned 18 at the time, was part of a group involved in home robberies of elderly couples. Three others in the group — 14, 15 and 16 at the time — implicated Noling in the slayings of the Hartigs during a burglary but later retracted their statements, saying that police pressured them to name Noling as the shooter.
Initial aggravated burglary charges brought against Noling were dropped in 1992, but a grand jury reindicted him in 1995 for the Hartig murders. He was sentenced to death in 1996.
No physical evidence tied him to the crime, and no murder weapon was ever found. Noling’s advocates say evidence, including law enforcement notes and a cigarette butt found in the Hartigs’ driveway, points to two other potential suspects. One is Dan Wilson, who was executed by lethal injection in Ohio in 2009 for a different crime. Noling’s lawyers wrote in court documents that a man told authorities that his foster brother, Wilson, bragged about committing the crime.
Former Portage County Sheriff Ken Howe, now 83, will be among a long line of witnesses testifying on Noling’s behalf at Tuesday’s hearing. In an Associated Press interview, he said that there were red flags at the time, and evidence that’s piled up since then has persuaded him to take Noling’s side.
“I believe that these boys were, and are, innocent,” he said.
Following the hearing, the board will deliberate in executive session and is expected to deliver a recommendation to the governor by Aug. 25.
