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Ashley Banfield
Hey, everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead serious. It has been a day. Two guys, and you might not think that they're similar, but I sure do. Luigi Mangione was in a hearing in New York and Tyler Robinson was in a hearing in Utah. They don't look a thing alike and they're probably not the same politically, but I have to say both of them are accused of writing menacing messages on bullets and firing said bullets into targets they didn't like. So they are very similar. And I am curious to find out if the legions of lovers of Luigi, boy, that's alliteration are going to turn out for Tyler. Right, Because Tyler had a cause. He didn't like right wing politics. And there are plenty of left wingers out there who feel the same way. Is he gonna have the free Luigi movement outside of his court hearings or is he not handsome enough? You know, is he not as handsome as Luigi? How much of Luigi's free Luigi moment is about Luigi being a fox? You know, look, a lot of us have had our health care hassles. I am one of them. I am mad as hell. But I am gonna take it because I'm not gonna assassinate someone because I'm frustrated with what they do. And I've heard the arguments out there at Crimecon. Lots were made very, very lucid arguments saying, well, you know, healthcare, when you deny and depose and all the rest, it's, it's leads to death and that's a form of murder. Legally, it's not. Sorry, just legally, it's not. As an American system of jurisprudence, we've decided that we just don't act as judge, jury, and executioner when we don't like what someone's doing. So today there's Luigi in New York, and he's got a big win on his ledger, right? Because they had to. The prosecutors had to drop the terrorism. The judge said, no, you don't have the evidence for it. So now it's just second degree murder. By the way, in New York, it's different. They don't really have the same first degree premeditated murder that a lot of other states have. So second degree murder is bad. You can still go away for life for that. It's still premeditated murder. It's just that in New York, you have to have extra aggravators like terrorism or children or law enforcement officials or torture or that kind of thing to make it first degree murder. Still no death penalty. But he. Luigi, still facing death penalty with the feds. So that's Luigi. But on the other side of the country in Utah, there was Tyler Robinson showing up for his very first court appearance today. The Internet was just like, gasping for air, just, you know, everyone's freaking the out. And Tyler Robinson had to show up in a suicide prevention vest because, you know, obviously it's come out that his parents said that they were trying to stop him from taking his own life and convincing him to turn himself in instead. And so obviously in jail, he's. He's a suicide risk. So they've got to watch them all the time. They've got to put him in this vest that you can't tie into a knot. But he doesn't have a lawyer. I just thought that was crazy. So I learned a lot today about this man being charged with the murder of Charlie Kirk. Right. And I learned a lot about the premeditated execution that police say he committed before leading them on that 33 hour manhunt. Like this little piece of information, the assassin was in a pretty tight spot. Very tough decisions to make. On the one hand, he had to ditch the rifle that he used in order to get away undetected. Right? Can't carry this thing around. Someone's gonna spot me. But on the other hand, he also needed to retrieve that rifle, right. So that there'd be nothing to lead investigators right to him. So he got the first part right. He ditched the rifle and he got away for 33 hours. Apart from some surveillance pictures and crowdsourced videos, he was pretty much undetected. He'd even ditched his shooting clothes. It turns out changed got out of them. But going back for the gun was a Big risk. Huge, huge risk. Apparently, a police car was parked right nearby. And in the end, the assassin decided to leave it, hoping it would go unnoticed in the brush. And everything that I just said is public knowledge tonight because investigators did find that rifle and those photos and videos, they were seen by the only two people in the world. The suspect could not gaslight his own parents, Tyler James Robinson. His parents, they turned him in. And Tyler James Robinson appeared virtually today from the Utah County Jail for the very first court hearing in what I am sure is going to be many. All of this since mom and dad and a family friend persuaded him to give himself up last Thursday. That's a day and a half after Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck and bled out in front of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. If you've seen the video, you know why I put that affectation on it? Because it was horror. Hollywood couldn't do a. A job that I saw on that video. If you haven't seen the video, don't. I think it'll probably be really rough on you. It's weird me saying don't look at it, because part of me thinks that the reason we're so outraged and so upset about Charlie Kirk's assassination is because we saw was so raw and so cruel, so sad to see a man die and then knowing he has these little kids and everything, you know, I think maybe seeing it made a big difference for me. As awful as it is, I feel terrible that I've seen this. And his poor family must be just apoplectic that the whole world has seen their loved one die. But so the person they believe did it, Tyler Robinson, appeared before the judge today, and he did it with a video uplink. He did not get marched into court, and he had on that green suicide prevention smock, and he said pretty much nothing. As the judge read off all the charges that were filed earlier by Utah prosecutors. I got the list here. I thought you might want to hear it. Aggravated murder, not a good one. Felony discharge of a firearm, also not a good one. Two counts each of obstructing justice and witness tampering, least of his worries. And violent offense committed in the presence of a child. And that last charge is important because with 3,000 people present, it's entirely possible that there were minors under the age of 18 who were in that crowd. But the BBC also reports that Charlie Kirk's two children were present. Three years old and one year old. I don't know that to be true. There's not a lot of reporting on that, but there is the BBC, the Economic Times have both reported that fact. So there are two counts of violent offense committed in the presence of a child and maybe that pertains to Charlie Kirk's two own children. And with these charges came a breathtaking 10 page account of all of the evidence that they've gathered in just the past five days. Almost all of it provided by Tyler Robinson himself. And much of it in the form of text messages to his roommate and his romantic partner. Because that's also being confirmed now that his roommate is actually his. This is hot, this is hard. Romantic partner is what everybody's saying because the roommate is a trans woman, meaning born male, transitioned to woman and I think goes by she. So I'm not sure if you'd say girlfriend or not, but romantic partner for the sake of not trying to offend everybody. But you know, when I say all of the evidence, we just got a tiny sliver of the evidence so far gathered in this first appearance. There's so much more they're not telling us yet and is the basis for the case that they're mounting against him. But I'm going to start by reading some of these text messages that, that were exchanged between Tyler Robinson and his roommate. I recommend that you pay close attention here because this is just pretty riveting stuff, right? If the prosecutor's right, it is really rare that we get a first person narrative from somebody who's just allegedly played assassin. So it's amazing because not only do you get into the mindset, the motive, that kind of thing, allegedly, but also all the little mysteries that I couldn't figure out. If the guy jumped off the roof, ran across the field, across the busy road and into the woods and dropped the gun, then what? What happened next? Well, all the answers come in these text messages. So on the night of the killing of Charlie Kirk. So you can imagine now, allegedly, Tyler Robinson is on the run, he's in hiding and he gets on the machine and starts texting his roommate. So let me read these for you. Starts off with Robinson saying, I'm still okay, my love. I am stuck in Orem for a while longer yet little while longer yet. Shouldn't be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my, my rifle. Still, to be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I'm sorry to involve you. Roommate answers, you weren't the one who did it, right? Robinson answers, I am. I'm sorry. Roommate says, I thought they caught the person. Robinson. No, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got lost, locked down. It's quiet, almost enough to get out, but there's one vehicle lingering. Roommate says, why? Robinson answers, why did I do it? Roommate says, yeah, Robinson, I had enough of his hatred. Presumably he's talking about Charlie Kirk. At this point, some hate can't be negotiated out. If I'm able to grab my rifle, just sort of boom. He's just gone back to grabbing the rifle. He's not explaining why he allegedly just murdered a man in cold blood. And the roommate's apoplectic about it. He's back to the rifle. Okay, so if I'm able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence going to attempt to retrieve it again. Hopefully they've moved on. I haven't seen anything about them finding it. Roommate how long have you been planning this?
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Ashley Banfield
Robinson bit over a week. I believe I can get close to it, but there's a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don't want to chance it. Robinson continues. I'm wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle. That's interesting to me. So we went through the woods, dropped the gun, allegedly, and got to his vehicle. I'm assuming it's that gray Charger, right, that people were saying he arrived to campus in that day. So he got to his vehicle. I'm worried what my old man would do if I didn't bring back grandpa's rifle. I d e k I don't even know if it has serial number, but it wouldn't trace to me. I worry about prints. I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. Okay, that's big to me, trying to figure out, how did this guy get away? But if these texts are true and if prosecutors are right, he's told his roommate, I went into those woods, I dropped that rifle, and I changed my clothes, and I came out of those woods and went to my car. So then he goes on to say, didn't have the ability or time to bring it with, meaning the rifle. That makes perfect sense, right? If he's wandering around after an execution, people are going to be looking for someone with a rifle. So, interestingly, I thought he broke that rifle down because that kind of a rifle can break down and put it in the backpack, meaning he would not be carrying a rifle. But maybe he didn't have the ability to break it down. Maybe he didn't know how to break it down. He does have some gun knowledge because his mom and dad took them to an uncle's army base. Military base. And there's lots of pictures on mom's Facebook of. Of them, you know, holding very, very dangerous weaponry and sort of on the ground, positioned at what looks like a. Some kind of a. I don't know, 50 cal gun of some kind. So there. It's not like they don't know guns. But he said, I didn't have the ability or time to bring it with me. I might have to abandon it and hope that they don't find prints. How the will I explain losing it to my old man? Only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel. Remember how I was engraving bullets? The fucking messages are mostly a big meme. If I see quote, notices bulge u w u end quote on Fox News, I might have a stroke. All right, I'm gonna have to leave it. That really sucks. So there he is in these text messages saying the stuff that he was writing on the bullets was supposed to be funny. And oh, my God, what happens if it's on Fox News? Oh, boy. This is a meme. I think that, you know, that one that was notices bulge. He says uwu, but I think it's supposed to be O w o meaning eyes bulging and I think notices bulges from a gaming expression. All right, the text continues. Judging from today, I'd say grandpa's gun does just fine. I don't know, I think that was a two thousand dollar scope. And it's like he's got a sideways emoji that almost looks like, like evil winking. Like he doesn't think this is very serious at this point. Meanwhile, this roommate has not texted back. Like this is just a last thing the roommate said was, how long have you been planning this? And Robinson's been going on and on. I don't know how many texts it is, but the roommate's not getting back to him. And then Robinson says this, and this is so important. Delete this exchange. It's important because obstruction of justice is delete this exchange. Get rid of the evidence. That's obstruction of justice. And that's probably what they're going to back up their obstruction charge with. Robinson continues, again, my dad wants photos of the rifle. He says, grandpa wants to know who has what. The feds released a photo of the rifle and it is very unique. He's calling me right now, not answering. Sounds like, sounds like he realizes they might be getting wise at this point. Roommate's still not responding. Not at least that the evidence shows that they released today. Robinson then says, since Trump got into office, my dad has been pretty die hard maga. Then Robinson says again, I'm going to turn myself in willingly. One of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff. I think there's quite a bit of time that's passed between these text messages. They've all been dumped out at once, but one big huge chunk in the, in the court document. So I can't tell you what's in between a lot of these messages and how many pauses there are, how long between texting to this roommate. But, but at this point I'm going to turn myself in willingly. One of my neighbors here is a deputy for the sheriff. That sounds like he's made it back home. This sounds like it's maybe 33 hours later. And Robinson says to his roommate, you are all I worry about, love. And now the roommate does respond and says, I'm much more worried about you. Robinson says, don't talk to the media. Please don't take any interviews or make any comments. If police ask you any question, ask for a lawyer and stay silent. Okay, that one's interesting. I think that's also the basis for another obstruction charge. But as I dig into those statements, don't talk to the media. There's nothing illegal or obstructionist about that. Don't take any interviews or make any comments. If he's meeting the media again, that's safe. If any police ask you questions, ask for a lawyer and stay silent. That may not be obstructionist because it's advice that you have the right to remain silent. You don't ever have to talk to anybody if you don't want to. But they may use that against him as obstructionist. Right. Because they've got a couple of those obstruction charges. So that long exchange began, according to the state, when the roommate was ordered by Tyler Robinson to look under his computer keyboard where the roommate found a note. And that note reads, I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it. I mean, as evidence goes, doesn't get more slam dunk than this, right? Could a defense attorney try to suggest that this roommate is trying to frame Tyler Robinson pretty hard because he had his phone in his front pocket. The person who was photographed, the perpetrator who was photographed in the stairwells. Right. The one they were looking for, who the perpetrator was, he had his phone in his front pocket. And one of the photographs and videos, he stops at the top of one of the stairwells in the tunnels and uses the phone. So there's going to be evidence of that particular phone pinging and he's on video as it's pinging. Right. It's all timestamped. Right. So they're going to have Tyler Robinson in the location where the photograph shows him and the video shows him making these communications. And presumably each one of these texts will be located as well. Little hard to frame somebody else who's, you know, back home hours and hours away and that, frankly, I'm not exactly sure where his home is. I know where his parents home is, and that's hours and hours away. But where the roommate's home is, I don't know. And where his, you know, Tyler Robinson's home is. But pretty hard to mount that argument when there's just this digital footprint, right? Ask Brian Coburger. Okay. As for the rifle, prosecutors said they recovered DNA that is consistent with Tyler Robinson's trigger finger on the trigger. I think I told you a couple days ago, I don't know a marksman who doesn't say he didn't sweat. Even when you're just doing, you know, target practice, microscopically sweating, Right? And if you think about getting on a site, you know, your fingers on the trigger, your face is on the gun, your eyes right next to the site, maybe in your cheek, your other hand is on the gun. There's so much touch DNA and sweat and I mean, it's. There's just transferred DNA like crazy, right? So prosecutors say, yeah, they tested it and it's consistent with Tyler's. So court hearing today, the only thing that was really decided was to hold another court hearing. And that's, that's going to be September 29th. I thought this was so bizarre, but he didn't have a lawyer. It's been five days since he was arrested. He does not have a lawyer yet. There was a guy who was standing up there who said to the judge, and I'm going to just paraphrase, hi, I think, you know, I'm here, but you know, I'm not on the record as an attorney for him, but I'm here to tell you that we're working on finding a public defender for Luigi. And the judge said, yeah, he qualifies as indigent, so he qualifies for the public defender. So I think what you can imagine at this point is that at least in the beginning, Tyler is going to have a public defender. And it's more than likely a public defender is going to kick off Tyler's case.
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Ashley Banfield
I don't think Tyler has a whole lot of money because he didn't even finish, you know, his first semester of university. I don't know what he was doing for work, but I don't know if his parents want to back him, they turned him in. I don't know if they're going to pay for his defense. He's an adult too, Right. So if they say not our problem, then Tyler is technically indigent. Right. So he would qualify for public defender. But it's just, I can't wait to see how this plays out. And by the way, lest you think that you, you don't get good representation if you're poor in this country and you need a public defender, that's horseshit. Some of the best lawyers in America are public defenders. Some of them are so practiced. They have huge caseloads and they are so practiced. You've heard, you know, Malcolm Gladwell say,000 to 10,000 hours. Well, these people have tens of thousands of hours in practice and they're really, really good at their job. So don't ever think that public defenders suck. They do not. Some do, but some private lawyers suck too. But who knows where the representation is going to go if it's going to be some big fancy lawyer that comes in and maybe does it pro bono. That'll make a lot of headlines. And somebody who wants to do that will make a lot of headlines. I don't think they're going to be able to save this guy. I will say this, I do feel like there will be some things that his defense team can do not, not to save him from punishment. He's going to be punished. This is overwhelming. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The evidence they gave you in the first hearing, like they don't have to give you much, just this is enough. He's not going to escape life, no parole, that's for sure. I don't know if he'll escape death penalty, but there are ways for them to get him there. Number one, plea bargain you shot with Coburger. Number two, mitigation according to his mental state. Maybe he was being groomed by a cult. Maybe a cult of like extreme leftists. Whatever it was, there may be something to his mental health. Hell, he's in there wearing a suicide vest, right? Clearly his mental health is in the toilet. He told his parents he wanted to kill himself. He, he's under suicide watch in the prison here or the jail here. So maybe a defense attorney will be able to make something of that of, of mitigating this potentially first time offender who did a terrible, terrible, horrible thing and needs to be punished for it. But maybe not the ultimate punishment. I don't know if that's going to fly I am very worried about picking a jury in this case. I am very worried about picking a jury in many more cases to come. Because we seem to think in our anger that we have the right to take the law into our own hands and kill the people we don't agree with. Happened with Luigi. Allegedly. Happening with Tyler. Allegedly. Who's the next one? Yeah. I am so tired of seeing people who say, I don't like Trump. I'm gonna go shoot him in Butler, Pennsylvania. I don't like those Minnesota Democrats. I'm gonna go shoot that speaker and her husband at their home, killing them both. The list goes on and on. But this seems to be where we're going, where Americans actually stand up and say, yeah, but murder's bad. Yeah, but. But that guy's really bad. No, I will say it again. There are two things that are irrefutable. Puppies are cute, Atlas included. Murder is bad. There is no but that you can add to the end of the sentence. Murder is bad. Sadly, I think too many people are doing this. So I had opportunity to speak with somebody I really like a lot. Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro is a former judge. She's a former prosecutor, former defense attorney, and currently one smart cookie. She's the Dean of the St. Thomas University College of Law. And I had this interview with her on my. On my show on News Nation. Banfield Shout out. Banfield News Nation, 10:00pm Eastern. Please watch. And we just had a really good conversation about all the aspects of this, this first appearance by Tyler Robinson and everything that's about to happen. So here's our conversation.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
I'm joined now by a friend of the show and one of the sharpest legal minds in the business. Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro is a former judge, former prosecutor, and currently the Dean of the St. Thomas University College of Law. Judge, it's good to have you here on a day like this. How damning are those texts, the ones that I just read out? Because that's all I have right now.
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Well, good evening, Ashley. This is a tragic, tragic case. My condolences to Erica and the children and also to the family of the defendant. This is horrible for everyone. How damning are these text messages? Honestly, as a former defense attorney, I cringe hearing them. I just see element after element after element witness, you know, obstruction of justice. We have witness tampering. We have lack of remorse. Covering up the. Picking up the rifle, just going on and on about his grandpa's rifle. That's what he's worried about. I mean, it's damning after damning after damning. It shows a direct admission of guilt and certainly will be used in the death penalty sentencing as aggravators for lack.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
Of a more so then let's talk about the other side because I see just a big old mountain of evidence against this guy. The premeditation, the callousness, the carelessness. I mean, careless doesn't count when they're looking at aggravators and mitigators. But look at him here in the suicide vest. There was reporting as well that his parents had to talk him out of taking his life before going in to report himself to the sheriff. How much of that will his defense side be able to work into his case saying, look, he's 22 years old, he got radicalized by his feet. He came from a good family. They were Trump loving, Trump supporting. He was not this leftist that everybody makes him out to be. He somehow was taken that way by the feet. Will they be able to do something like that to establish some kind of diminished capacity to mitigate down from death?
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
That's going to be an uphill battle for them. When we look at a death penalty case, we look at aggravators and mitigators. So we're talking about the mitigation here. And you know, you have a 22 year old, yes, that's mitigation. But you have a 22 year old who knows what he did. He knows that it was a crime. He's intentionally trying to cover it up. He had premeditation. This was not an accident. So an insanity defense is not going to work because an insanity defense requires you to not understand right or wrong. So that's going to be an uphill battle on the mitigation side.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
Yeah, for sure. Insanity is off the table. There is no shot there. And there's the picture in the middle of us to prove that he was running for cover, which is the mere definition of knowing something's wrong when you're running away to try to secret yourself and secret the gun away. Yeah, you know right from wrong, insanity's off the table. But what about those other gradations? State to state, they call it different things, but it's effectively the guy was somewhat mentally ill and it should factor in to death penalty or no death penalty. Again, it's all in the mitigation because I think this guy is never going to skate from a guilty verdict here. I really don't. Not with the evidence we've learned so far. And that's only the tip of the iceberg what about that diminishing aspect? And again, it's different in every state. I don't know what it is in Utah, but diminished capacity is often what we hear.
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Yeah, I mean, we're going to hear about it. That's all the defense really has. As a prior defense attorney, you know, we can't pick our facts. So they have really nothing else to utilize in the mitigation. This is a damning case. There's a ton of evidence, and the mitigation's gonna be slim. And they have to use the fact that, you know, he's. He's. He is very careless, but at the same time, he was incredibly premeditated. The intent was there, the motive was there, and it's going to be an uphill battle on diminished capacity, I have to tell you.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
Let me ask you something, Judge. Are they going to more than likely have his own family members testify against him? Because that would be one of the most. As a mom, that would be the most painful thing to see, bringing family members in to point the finger.
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Like I said, this is a sad case for both families, all families involved. I imagine that the family will be subpoenaed to testify, and they will have to come in. They may be hostile, but it doesn't appear so. The parents convinced him to turn himself in, and they did the right thing here. And I think they will be called as witnesses and have to testify against their son.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
Yes, it's easy for us to say they did the right thing, but as a mother, you sort of put yourself in those shoes and think, could I turn my son over to the state for an execution?
Ashley Banfield
It's hard.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
And I don't know where our viewers are. We're all over the map in our politics, in this little crime community that we have on this program. And it doesn't matter what your politics are. I feel for Bryan Kohberger's family. They weren't the killers. I feel for this guy's family. I feel for Luigi Mangione's family that the families of, you know, of people who either did or are alleged to have done terrible things, didn't do those things. And yet they find themselves in the worst predicament and the most painful, painful, you know, situation. So in that respect, that's why I said it would be painful to see a mother or a father having to come into court and point at their son, no matter what, you know, he's accused of. Last quick question. A lot of people are saying the roommate has exposure. And the fact is, is that that this guy texted to his roommate. Remember when I was engraving the bullets? Can you set the record straight on what your duty to respond is? As a basic civilian, not a public figure, not a teacher, not a government employee, just a roommate. Do you have any duty to call police if you see someone engraving bullets?
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Absolutely. You have a duty. Hear something, say something, see something, say something. As soon as those text messages came through, he had a duty to call the police department. That was made very clear by the governor of that state and the police and the investigators. And, you know, I think he did the right thing. From what I can tell. I think he did notify the police, he handed over his text messages. He did not conceal them. And so I do not believe he will be charged. I believe he fully cooperated.
Ashley Banfield Interviewer
Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, morally, yes, of course. We all have a duty. Legally, I don't think you can be charged unless you're, again, a public official. You have a duty to respond to something like that. That looks like imminent danger is ahead of you. But for that roommate, the texts look to me like the roommate was pretty damn shocked. Is this really you? Question mark, question mark, question mark. I mean, I think that's pretty strong evidence. Judge, it's really good to have you. I'm so sad about where we are as a nation and how some people celebrated this death and how others celebrated the death of Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare worker. Like, I'm so tired of vigilante justice and those who support it because there's no end to it. Once you jump in that bin, anybody's game, you know, if your message isn't palatable, well, then the next guy apparently is okay to perform the judge, jury, executioner duties. And that's really a sad state.
Ashley Banfield
I appreciate you being here.
Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Yes, it's a sad day in America. Ashley. Thank you for having me.
Ashley Banfield
Hi, everybody. Thank you so much for hanging with me on this podcast. I. I have said many times I don't want to get into politics. And ever, when I do true crime, sometimes these true crimes just land in the political bin, and there's no way to avoid it. And I am particularly concerned not with whether you support Luigi or Tyler or whether you decry Luigi and Tyler and people who allegedly commit these horrible crimes for their causes. That's not my point here. My point is to look at the. The criminal procedure. Right? We have a system of laws in this country. Thank you, Jesus. Because that. That makes this country great. Believe me. When I was a war correspondent, I went to plenty of countries where the law doesn't operate quite like this. Think hoods and gulags and you never see your loved one again when the Gustavo comes to the door and takes them. That's the kind of thing I've seen firsthand in countries that aren't like ours. And so I don't want to see us degenerate to that kind of horseshit. Don't take the law into your own hands. I don't care if you don't like something or if you believe in your cause. We have a nation of laws and you get what's coming to you. And I don't care if Tyler Robinson is mentally ill. I think anybody, if he's did this. Anybody who executes a person in cold blood is mentally ill in some way. I don't know if that's going to affect his. His adjudication of this, this case. I don't know how they're going to find a jury that doesn't have some dog in this fight. Politically, you know, everybody's in a camp. But folks, if there's one thing I do know, and I say this all the time, is that the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious. Sam.
In this episode, Ashleigh Banfield delivers a raw and unflinching deep dive into the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, allegedly by Tyler Robinson. Drawing comparisons to another high-profile case (Luigi Mangione), Banfield explores the disturbing details of the shooting, focusing on Robinson’s incriminating text messages to his roommate/romantic partner while on the run from law enforcement. The episode features a detailed reading of those texts, careful legal analysis, and an interview with Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro about case implications and the mental health, evidence, and legal complexities involved.
Timestamp: 01:05 – 04:15
Quote:
“Luigi Mangione was in a hearing in New York and Tyler Robinson was in a hearing in Utah. They don't look a thing alike and they're probably not the same politically, but I have to say both of them are accused of writing menacing messages on bullets and firing said bullets into targets they didn't like. So they are very similar.”
— Ashleigh Banfield (01:17)
Timestamp: 04:15 – 13:00
Details of Tyler Robinson’s first court appearance:
Overview of the 33-hour manhunt:
Quote:
“All of this since mom and dad and a family friend persuaded him to give himself up last Thursday. That's a day and a half after Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck and bled out in front of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University.”
— Ashleigh Banfield (06:40)
Timestamp: 08:30 – 22:15
Notable Quotes:
Timestamp: 27:41 – 35:10
Guest: Judge Tarleka Nunes Navarro
Notable Quotes:
On the Family Testifying:
On the Roommate’s Legal Exposure:
Timestamp: 23:23 – 27:41, 32:34 – 35:10
Quote:
“There are two things that are irrefutable. Puppies are cute... Murder is bad. There is no ‘but’ that you can add to the end of the sentence. Murder is bad. Sadly, I think too many people are doing this.”
— Ashleigh Banfield (25:15)
Timestamp: 35:10 – End
Quote:
“If there's one thing I do know... the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.”
— Ashleigh Banfield (35:51)
Banfield (on seeing Kirk’s shooting video):
“Hollywood couldn't do a job that I saw on that video. If you haven't seen the video, don't. I think it'll probably be really rough on you.” (07:10)
Judge Nunes Navarro (on defense prospects):
“An insanity defense is not going to work because an insanity defense requires you to not understand right or wrong. So that's going to be an uphill battle on the mitigation side.” (29:47)
Banfield’s recurring theme:
“There are two things that are irrefutable. Puppies are cute, Atlas included. Murder is bad. There is no but that you can add to the end of the sentence.” (25:15)
This episode is a searing exploration of the Tyler Robinson case, centered on the intense aftermath of an alleged political assassination, the mechanics of digital evidence, questions of mental health and legal culpability, and the rising danger of vigilantism in America. Ashleigh Banfield’s signature irreverent, incisive style and commitment to legal clarity shine throughout, with the tragic human costs and mounting societal anxieties always in focus.