By Katie McKellar | Senior Reporter
On the fourth day of the preliminary hearing for Charlie Kirk’s accused shooter, Erika Kirk’s attorneys argued all evidence should be displayed in the courtroom.
The judge has allowed some but not all exhibits to be shown in the public’s eye. And in some cases, he’s partially redacted videos — including the most significant new piece of evidence shown so far: a recording of Tyler Robinson’s former roommate’s interview with prosecutors.
In today’s Dispatch, we unpack why the case is shining a spotlight on how crime victims’ rights have their limits in Utah. We also report on a study that shows Rocky Mountain Power customers could have saved millions under a different cost-sharing structure and Democrats’ outcry over the Trump administration using FEMA grants to pressure changes to election laws.
“I think the family deserves to see the evidence that’s been gathered in this investigation. They deserve to know what happened to Charlie.” — Jeffrey Neiman, attorney for Charlie Kirk’s family, while arguing for all evidence in the preliminary hearing to be on display.
Tyler Robinson, left, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, sits while Judge Tony Graf conferences with attorneys during a preliminary hearing at the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo, Utah on July 9, 2026. (Pool photo by Spenser Heaps for the Associated Press)
By Annie Knox
For the first time, Utah County prosecutors presented a video interview they recorded with Tyler Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner.
Parts of the recording were redacted. But at one point in the interview, Lance Twiggs said the day after the shooting that Robinson said “he wishes he hadn’t done it.” Robinson has not yet entered pleas to the charges against him.
Transmission lines lead away from the coal-fired Intermountain Power Plant near Delta, Utah on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Alixel Cabrera
Under a different financial policy from what Utah currently has for Rocky Mountain Power, customers could have saved more than $21 million between 2020 and 2024.
That’s according to a new study, which explored what would happen if the utility company assumed 10% of unexpected expenses rather than passing 100% of the cost on to ratepayers like Utah’s current structure does.
Booths await voters during the May 19, 2026, primary election at Temple View Elementary School in Idaho Falls, Idaho. (Photo by Pat Sutphin/Idaho Capital Sun)
D.C. BUREAU
By Jacob Fischler
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s guidelines to states on how to request funding under counterterrorism grant programs include potentially illegal demands related to election administration, Democrats on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee said.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, last month sent states notices of available federal funding for non-disaster grants. Those notices, Democrats said in a letter, included “blatant attempts to force communities to comply with the Trump administration’s political demands” or risk losing $200 million in federal funds.
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