Tyler Robinson's Lawyers Claim a Bullet Analysis Could Prove His Innocence

The trial of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, has not yet started, but his defense lawyers are already working to advocate for their client. Kirk's death was a major news event, and it took some time for authorities to land on a suspect and then apprehend him.

Now, Robinson's lawyers are relying on a bullet analysis in order to request that a preliminary hearing in the case be delayed from its original date in May. Following the news of this request — and the bullet analysis that is key to it — many wanted to know whether the bullet that killed Kirk came from Robinson's gun. Here's what we know.

Robinson's defense team claimed in a request to delay a preliminary hearing that an analysis by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives could not conclusively connect a bullet found during an autopsy of Kirk with a rifle that was found near the scene of the crime. The court documents also claim that the FBI is still running additional tests. The agency's report is not yet cited, but attorneys cited snippets from it in the filing.

According to Politico, the success of forensic bullet analysis can often depend on the size and type of bullet fragments that can be recovered. Experts are looking for unique, microscopic markings that a firearm makes on a bullet as it leaves the chamber. No two guns make the exact same kinds of markings, which allows analysts to trace bullets back to the particular guns that fired them.

Defense attorneys said that they would try to use the inconclusive nature of the analysis to exonerate their client, while prosecutors claimed that they had enough evidence regardless of the analysis to continue to trial. Prosecutors also claim that, after Robinson committed the assassination, he texted a former romantic partner that he had done it because he had “had enough of his hatred,” referring to Kirk.

The fact that the analysis was inconclusive certainly isn't definitive evidence that Robinson is innocent, but it might make the prosecutor's case more difficult to prove. Robinson is set to be back in court on April 17 as part of a hearing on a defense motion to ban cameras from the courtroom. Given the high-profile nature of the case, there will be unusual interest in Robinson's trial.

The news of Charlie Kirk's death was a major news story for several weeks after the news first broke. Kirk was best known for being an outspoken conservative activist who toured college campuses across the country in an attempt to challenge what he saw as the liberal orthodoxy on those campuses.

Robinson's trial will demand national attention because of who he is accused of killing. The bullet analysis is likely to be just one part of a much larger trial based on evidence presented by both sides.