Charlie Kirk’s murder was the worst political assassination in nearly 60 years.
The defendant is about to stand trial.
And Trey Gowdy dropped one bombshell about the death penalty in the Charlie Kirk murder case.
Trey Gowdy Agrees With the Decision to Seek the Death Penalty
A Utah judge ruled the prosecution presented enough evidence to proceed with all seven charges against Tyler Robinson, the pro-transgender leftist accused of murdering Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
Those charges include First Degree Murder, which puts the death penalty on the table.
Speaking to the Desert News, Fox News host Trey Gowdy drew on his experience as a former federal prosecutor to express his belief that bringing the death penalty in this case was a no-brainer.
“This was a high-caliber projectile that went over the heads of lots of people and hit a guy on a stage. If that is not an act that endangers other people, then I don’t know what would be. But look, that’s up to a jury,” Gowdy stated.
Gowdy also explained that it’s taken more than a year to bring this case to trial; the judge set the next date for a pretrial conference of October 23, on the quirks of the Utah criminal justice system.
“Utah has a very unusual criminal justice system. In most every other state I can think of, including the one I’m from, there is no hearing on probable cause. Utah is different. All of this pre-trial stuff — we basically litigate the matter to determine whether there’s probable cause, which takes forever — we would basically do that in about 45 seconds in most other states. I’m not knocking Utah; I love the state. And it’s great to be suspicious of the power of government. That’s why we have grand juries. … This mini-trial before the trial, and taking forever to get a trial? Nothing gets better in the criminal justice system with time. Nothing,” Gowdy added.
Cameras in the Courtroom
The delay in the trial meant the state couldn’t present its evidence that Robinson was guilty, which allowed a number of false conspiracy theories about Kirk’s murder to percolate online.
Gowdy described his experience with Kirk murder conspiracy theorists and how putting cameras in the courtroom to televise the trial could establish the truth.
“I have mixed feelings about it, because there are so many conspiracy theorists. And nothing destroys a conspiracy theory quite like cross-examination,” Gowdy added.
“I was actually walking into my gym one night, and a guy stopped me and said, “Why are y’all ignoring the exploding microphone? We all know what killed him.” And I said, “You mean Kash Patel is part of some vast conspiracy to cover up? Do you think Mossad did it?” Gowdy recounted.
Gowdy went on to say that his experience in court is that cameras make people act differently and cited the OJ Simpson trial as the example of a televised trial turning into a debacle, but that in the case it was important to televise the proceedings to knock down the conspiracy theories.
“Ordinarily, I would say cameras make people act differently and worse. Period. There’s a reason there are no cameras in federal court. People don’t act better. Having said that, if you’ve got the Candace Owens of the world out there spreading conspiracy theories, or Tucker Carlson, or fill in the blank, let them see how those conspiracies stack up in court,” Gowdy continued.
“All trials are public; you can go watch it. The question is, whether or not it is televised. Think back to O.J. (Simpson). That was an unmitigated disaster. Having said that, I think on balance, I’d rather the public see it, so they will see that, believe it or not, sometimes people just shoot other people with a gun. No conspiracy required,” Gowdy concluded,
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