Overview
- The judge closed a five-day preliminary hearing on Friday and declined to rule, instead ordering written briefs and scheduling further oral argument in September.
- Prosecutors showed campus surveillance, phone-extraction data and a recorded interview with former roommate Lance Twiggs that they say place 23-year-old Tyler Robinson at the scene and include apparent admissions by Robinson.
- Investigators presented alleged DNA links from a screwdriver and the suspected rifle and a compilation of video tying a Dodge Challenger to the campus, while ATF ballistics testing was described in court as inconclusive.
- Defense lawyers challenged the forensic links by disputing chain of custody, the strength of DNA matches and the meaning of the ATF results, and they pressed objections to public release and redaction of some exhibits.
- The hearing was a judge-only probable-cause proceeding, not a trial, so evidence admitted there could be ruled on differently at trial and the briefing period may affect the case timetable and whether it moves forward with capital exposure.