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PROVO, Utah — In an emotional moment in the gallery during the second day of a preliminary hearing for Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin Tyler Robinson in a Utah courthouse Tuesday, the victim’s widow Erika Kirk reached forward to hand a tissue to a crying woman in the row in front of her.
Over the course of the hearing, the Kirk family has been given permission to come and go to avoid painful testimony.
At one point Tuesday, as defense attorney Richard Novak cross-examined the case’s lead investigator, David Hull, the Kirk family left the room as the testimony turned to the fatal gunshot.
TYLER ROBINSON’S AND LANCE TWIGG’S DNA BOTH ALLEGEDLY FOUND ON KEY EVIDENCE IN CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION
Denae Branch, left, and her friends were first in line to enter Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing at Utah’s Fourth District Court in Provo on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. All four said they were present when Charlie Kirk was assassinated at nearby Utah Valley University in Orem last year. (Michael Ruiz/ Digital)
That’s just who Erika is. She’s good.
They returned about 10 minutes later when the topic had changed, with Erika Kirk leaning on her mother-in-law, Kathy Kirk.
CHARLIE KIRK’S FAMILY COMES FACE TO FACE WITH ACCUSED ASSASSIN FOR FIRST TIME
Erika Kirk departs court in Provo, Utah, Monday, July 6, 2026. The widow of Charlie Kirk was attending the first day of preliminary hearings against, Tyler Robinson who is on trial for Kirk’s murder. (Alec Thornock for Digital)
As they took their seats, Erika Kirk leaned forward and handed a tissues to a woman, Denae Branch, who was seated in the row ahead of her.
“I went thinking I was going to support Erika, and at one point I turn around, and I see her just holding on to her sweet mother-in-law, and I like, kind of lose it and start crying,” Branch said in a teary video on Instagram explaining the encounter. “Next thing I know, I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I turn back, and Erika is handing me one of her tissues.”
Charlie Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Branch and three of her friends were already in line to get into the courthouse around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
ACCUSED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN TYLER ROBINSON FIGHTS BACK AS PROSECUTORS’ SPRAWLING CASE COMES INTO FOCUS
They told Digital they had arrived at midnight after they came too late Monday morning to get one of the 14 seats available to the public in the Fourth District Courthouse in Provo.
Branch and her friends said they were attending the Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025, when Kirk was shot and killed.
Tyler Robinson, left, accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, sits beside defense attorney Kathryn Nester during a hearing in Fourth District Court in Provo on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Bethany Baker/The Salt Lake Tribune via Pool)
They were strangers at the time, but met through a support group for survivors and witnesses in the months that followed the assassination.
Prior to the hearing, two women in their group were asked to remove or cover up their Turning Point USA T-shirts to comply with the court’s decorum order, which bans messages of support for other side in the case.
“She didn’t know that I was there for her,” Branch said in her video. “We weren’t allowed to wear anything to tell her that we were there for her…But that’s just who Erika is. She’s good.”
Erika Kirk departs court in Provo, Utah, Monday, July 6, 2026. The widow of Charlie Kirk was attending the first day of preliminary hearings against, Tyler Robinson who is on trial for Kirk’s murder. (Alec Thornock for Digital)
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She declined to be interviewed on camera.
“I hope she feels my prayers for her,” she said in her Instagram post.
