The family of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is asking that the trial of his alleged murderer begin next year — sooner than the timelines suggested by the state and defense, according to new court filings.

The suspect, Tyler Robinson, is due in court on Friday for a hearing that’s expected to set a timeline for the capital murder case, including trial dates.

The defense has asked that the capital trial start in the third quarter of 2029, arguing in a memo filed Wednesday that that timeline is consistent with other capital cases in the state. The defense anticipated that the trial could take six to seven months and would require “substantial time” for jury selection. The defense also noted they plan to undertake a venue study and, depending on the results, may request a change of venue for the trial.

In the state’s own filing, prosecutors said they anticipate the trial lasting 17 weeks and that they could be ready to start as soon as Oct. 4, 2027. However, the state recommended that the trial begin on Jan. 31, 2028, to avoid the “worst of the winter season” as well as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

In response to both filings, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, asked the court to “enforce the right to a speedy disposition” and set the trial for as early as possible in 2027, no later than the state’s anticipated readiness date of Oct. 4, 2027, to avoid “needless delay.”

“Under the Defendants’ proposed schedule, Mr. Kirk’s two children, who were one and three at the time he was murdered, will be six and eight years old by the time the trial concludes,” a motion filed on Erika Kirk’s behalf Thursday stated. “They will face the uncertainty of this criminal proceeding longer than they had their father in their lives. Each hearing induces anxiety, pain, and mourning. The Kirk family deserves to have this matter resolved expeditiously.”

The motion also argued that a 2029 trial start will come at a “great cost to the taxpayers of Utah.”

The pretrial conference on the matter is scheduled for Friday afternoon before Judge Tony Graf.

Robinson is accused of killing Kirk with a rifle shot fired from a building’s rooftop approximately 415 feet from where the co‑founder of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA was speaking at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025.

The 23-year-old suspect was charged with aggravated murder, a capital felony, which alleges that others were knowingly endangered in the shooting. He was also charged with felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.

Last month, Judge Graf found probable cause for Robinson to stand trial on all charges. The judge also found that there was a reasonable known risk of death to others at the time of the shooting, allowing prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.

Robinson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has released the body camera footage of the officer-involved shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was fatally shot in a Walmart parking lot on June 14 during an alleged shoplifting pursuit.

The release of the video on Thursday came after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced on Monday the findings of its investigation, concluding that the use of force by the Senatobia Police Department was “justified.”

The probe was conducted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI).

Members of Kohen’s family, who viewed the footage privately before its formal release, spoke out during a press conference on Thursday, criticizing the state attorney general’s decision not to press charges against police.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, said that after viewing the footage, the family continues to believe that the officer’s actions were “excessive” and “not justified.”

“After reviewing that footage, we have made these observations that this was excessive from the very start,” Crump said.

“We are just troubled in our souls that a 1-year-old little angel was taken from us in such a way as this. America, our society must have more empathy for human life,” he added. “Baby Kohen’s life mattered.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves defended the investigation and police during a press conference on Wednesday, saying that while he had not viewed the body camera video himself, he has “trust” in the MBI and the state attorney general’s office. 

“Absolutely tragic, and anyone should be focused on praying for that loss of life, and the and the people who loved that young child, no question,” he said.

But Reeves added that investigators found that “it was very clear” that “the driver of the vehicle attempted to run over the policeman.”

Crump argued that the officer could have moved out of the way instead of shooting and called for a federal investigation into the incident.

What happened to Kohen Wiley

Officers who responded to a shoplifting call on June 14 at the Walmart in Senatobia encountered two adults allegedly fleeing from the store with a child and running into a vehicle, according to MBI.

MBI released a redacted report on Thursday outlining its investigation. In the report, the bureau said that as officers attempted to stop the vehicle from fleeing, one officer opened fire as the driver “sped toward the officers.”

The child was killed and an adult was critically injured, the report said.

According to Crump, the two adults who were accused of stealing diapers, whose names are redacted from the report, were Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley and a friend, but they were never charged in the incident.

“[Kohen] was killed over an allegation of shoplifting of diapers, and even if someone is charged, shoplifting diapers is a misdemeanor,” Crump said on Thursday. “I mean, it doesn’t warrant the death penalty. It certainly doesn’t warrant the death of 1-year-old baby Kohen.”

Veronica Roberson, Kohen’s maternal grandmother, said that she was “disgusted” while watching the body camera footage of the incident that killed her grandson.

“I watched the video this morning that disgusted me,” she said. “I feel like we have been done wrong,” she added. “I watched an officer come from the inside of Walmart, not knowing what’s going on, and run out with guns drawn. There’s no justification for that.”

What the videos show

The videos of the incident that were released by MBI on Thursday include multiple vantage points of the incident, including footage from several body-worn police cameras. The videos also include surveillance footage from the Walmart.

In the surveillance video, a man who appears to work at Walmart is seen confronting two women — one of them holding a baby — as they exited the Walmart. The women then walk past the man and start running in the parking lot towards a parked vehicle, the video shows.

In the body camera video, the man runs into what appears to be a security office in the Walmart with several law enforcement officers inside. The man points towards the front entrance and says, “two girls running.” Multiple officers are seen running out toward the parking lot.

In the surveillance video, the women are seen entering a vehicle in the parking lot. Police body camera footage then shows the officers racing into the parking lot. The vehicle then backs out of the parking spot, as an office who appears to have his hand on the car backs away. The vehicle then appeared to back into a parked vehicle, the video shows. As officers call for the driver to stop, the vehicle appears to drive toward the officers, who had their guns drawn, with the officer who fired the shots appearing to move out of the way.

As the car drives toward the officers, one officer appears to fire multiple shots — first toward the front of the vehicle and then another shot appears to hit the front passenger side of the car, breaking the window.

After the shots were fired, the car hit a parked vehicle in the parking lot before stopping for a moment and then driving off as officers chased the vehicle on foot.

The officer who fired his weapon in this case was placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, police told ABC News.

Asked about his employment status on Thursday, police did not respond to a request for comment.

Asked about the findings of the attorney general’s report that the shooting was “justified”, a spokesperson for the Senatobia police did not comment on the findings.

Senatobia interim police chief Angelica Maze thanked the public for patience during the investigation in a statement on Tuesday.

“We understand that people may have questions, concerns, and strong emotions, and we respect everyone’s right to express their views peacefully,” Maze said in her statement. “Open communication and cooperation between residents and law enforcement are essential as we move forward together.”

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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Federal prosecutors charged 15 people across multiple states in connection with an alleged Medicare and insurance fraud schemes they allege collectively took in $2 billion, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Eight of the defendants, some of whom were physicians, were arrested by federal agents on Thursday, with most of the arrests taking place in California, according to officials.

The alleged schemes included billing private insurers for phony substance abuse treatment, billing Medicare for unnecessary atherectomy procedures (which are for removing plaque from blood vessels) and another charging Medicare for hospice services for patients who weren’t terminally ill, the Justice Department said.

Five of the suspects were expected to appear in federal court in L.A., two were expected to appear in federal court in Texas and another was expected to appear in federal court in Illinois Thursday afternoon, according to the Justice Department.

Attorney information for the suspects wasn’t immediately available.

The biggest case focused on two people in Los Angeles and another in Texas who allegedly spent years moving substance abuse patients from around the country to California, the Justice Department said.

The suspects allegedly enrolled the patients in insurance policies that they were not eligible for and obtained the highest reimbursement for substance abuse treatments. They received over $1.6 billion, the Justice Department alleged.

In a separate case, a Los Angeles cardiothoracic surgeon and a chiropractor are accused of falsely diagnosing patients with arterial disease and recommending they receive atherectomies, the Justice Department said. The suspects in this case billed Medicare for over $135 million for the procedures, the Justice Department alleged.

Three cases dealt with suspects allegedly billing Medicare a combined $138 million for fraudulent hospice schemes, the Justice Department said. The suspects allegedly billed patients who were not terminally ill, according to the Justice Department.

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New York City horse-drawn carriages will be riding into the sunset in less than two years after city leaders voted Thursday to ban the practice following the death of an 18-year-old tourist who was killed during a ride in Central Park over the summer.

The City Council voted 40 to 7 with two abstentions on Romanch’s Law, which would prohibit the issuance of new licenses used in the operation of horse-drawn cabs and phase out the carriages by June 1, 2028. The horses would be prohibited from being sold to slaughterhouses, under the bill.

The vote, which is veto-proof, was met with praise by animal rights groups and park advocates who have long called for the ban citing several incidents where horses crashed or caused disturbances. However, the union representing horse-drawn carriage drivers have threatened legal action.

Previous New York City Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams both pushed for the ban during their tenures, however, there was not enough support in the City Council.

The discussion picked up in the summer after Romanch Mahajan, an 18-year-old Indian tourist, was killed after a horse got out of control with the carriage and the victim’s family still inside.

The carriage clipped the wheel of another carriage and toppled, according to investigators.

Mahajan’s aunt and uncle were on hand for the vote.

In past instances, tourists and other parkgoers were injured when horses ran loose, including one instance in January where the horse crashed into cars.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin said before the vote was cast that the carriages had become a safety risk.

“They don’t belong in an area that attracts 42 million people a year, pulling a 1,000-pound carriage in record heat,” she said.

Under the bill, a “workforce transition program” will be set up for the horse-drawn carriage drivers, who are unionized. The program will include job placement, training, career counseling and financial compensation.

The Central Park Conservancy, which operates the park and has pushed for the ban for years, praised the decision.

Mahajan’s death “was the ninth carriage-related incident in just over a year—a number we could not ignore as the stewards and caretakers of Central Park,” the conservancy said in a statement.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents the roughly 150 horse-drawn carriage drivers, protested outside City Hall Thursday and sent a letter the day before to the city’s law department informing them that they will seek a temporary restraining order “the minute the ink dries.”

“We will see them in court,” Alexander Kemp, the administrative vice president for TWU Local 100 said in a statement after the vote. “This bill is blatantly unconstitutional, providing nothing but a plan to draft a plan. There’s nothing concrete for hundreds of workers, carriage owners and family members who face total economic devastation.”

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Multiple California parents are facing child endangerment charges in connection with letting their children “illegally ride E-Motos,” the Orange County District Attorney announced Wednesday.

According to the district attorney’s office, the charges come after multiple accidents, including one that left an 11-year-old with a broken collarbone and an arterial bleed and another in which a 13-year-old died after crashing into a light pole.

E-motos, or electric motorcycles, are two-wheeled, off-highway motorcycles that are powered by an electric motor and have no pedals. Electric bicycles, in contrast, come with pedals and an electric motor that does not exceed 750 watts, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The district attorney’s office announcement represents some of the 12 parents the office says it has charged since January in an effort to regulate young people on e-bikes and e-motos.

Among those recently charged was Alex Li, who is facing a misdemeanor count of child endangerment. The district attorney’s office alleges Li’s 11-year-old son collided “with a pickup truck while riding his E-Moto capable of going more than 33 miles per hour in the city of Yorba Linda.”

His son suffered broken bones and an arterial bleed, the D.A.’s office said.

Another parent, Maria Roehling, was charged with a felony count of child endangerment and an infraction for allowing a child under the age of 18 to drive a motor vehicle without a license, according to the D.A.’s office.

According to the district attorney’s office, her 9-year-old son was allegedly “speeding on his E-Moto capable of going speeds more than 47 miles per hour when he was hit by a pickup truck in Yorba Linda.”

Dan Rezmives, a father of a 12-year-old, was charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment, one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and an infraction for allowing a child under the age of 18 to drive a motor vehicle without a license after a police officer allegedly saw his son riding an e-moto on a city street, the D.A. said. Rezmives was allegedly on a bicycle at the time.

The father and son were previously warned that riding the bike on city streets was illegal, the D.A.’s office said.

Two other parents, Hulin Guo and Xiaomin Wang, were each charged with a misdemeanor count of child endangerment, one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and an infraction for allowing a child under the age of 18 to drive a motor vehicle without a license after their 17-year-old son allegedly “led Newport Beach police on a pursuit while driving more than 40 miles an hour” on an e-moto earlier this year, according to the D.A.’s office.

The D.A.’s office cited two prior instances in which the son allegedly had run-ins with police on E-motos, and the parents were reminded of the bikes’ dangers.

The sixth parent, Tuan Nguyen, was charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment after his 13-year-old son allegedly led police on a pursuit, riding up to 40 miles an hour, according to the D.A.’s office.

“The pursuit ended when the 13-year-old crashed his Surron, capable of going up to 49 miles per hour, into the police vehicle while trying to get away,” the D.A.’s office said.

The D.A.’s office noted another man, Jose De Jesus Ramirezbarragan, was charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allegedly “allowing his 15-year-old brother to ride his E-Motorcycle.”

Ramirezbarragan’s brother allegedly “began a police pursuit while driving 40 miles per hour, running red lights, and nearly crashing into several cars before losing control and crashing into several bushes,” according to the district attorney’s office.

“We don’t want to have to prosecute parents — we want to save kids’ lives,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “When parents refuse to parent and tell their kids ‘no’ when it comes to riding something that is dangerous and illegal, then I have no choice but to hold parents accountable and file criminal charges.”

ABC News has not yet identified attorneys for any of those charged.

In April, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced a mother was arrested and charged with child endangerment and accessory after the fact to a crime after her 14-year-old child allegedly hit an 81-year-old veteran while riding an e-motorcycle. The charges were later upgraded to involuntary manslaughter after the man died, authorities said. The mother has yet to enter a plea in that case. 

The D.A.’s office said, according to the California Statewide Integrated Traffic Record System, children 11 to 14 make up 61.7% of e-moto crashes despite the fact that children under 16 are prohibited from riding e-motos.

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