On the topic of the Kirk trial, few things I have to say after some google checking (a lot of this stuff is probably in the Charlie Kirk thread as well):
1) Apparently, it was state charges from the get-go. Despite FBI investigation,
federal charges wouldn't work here because it didn't fall into federal jurisdiction territory. Kirk wasn't a federal employee/ambassador/etc., the killing wasn't on federal land, commerce clause doesn't come into play, etc.
2) If you look at the
FBI video on their site, you can see the shooter having something in his hands while jumping off the roof/walking across the grass. It's not directly seen to be a gun, but it is a long, thin package which could be the gun wrapped around the towel/blanket/whatever it was the FBI found with the gun.
3) Apparently the old guy who was initially arrested didn't claim to be paid or anything;
dude just did it because, he wanted the real shooter to get away. He was basically just doing it for love of the game or something. Apparently, during that initial arrest, got found out the dude had diddled kids or something, so fuck him either way.
4) I'm not seeing anything about the parents denying they turned him in. It's more
they convinced Robinson to turn himself in to the washington county sheriff instead of shooting himself or whatever was his original plan.
5) The legal proceedings have been happening. A lot of it seems to be pre-trial stuff like how the defendant will appear in court, access of news groups to court, etc. Robinson's first court appearance was in
December. Since then, like most trials, it's been going slowly, though apparently
Erika Kirk filed for a speedy trial i.e. the trial should get wrapped up within a certain timeframe rather than extending as long as possible (no idea if she got it or not). Most
recent news I can find is judge has said a lot of Tyler Robinson's motions and evidence should be public. Now apparently there's a trial in April to judge whether some parts of the trial should be private or not. Then the preliminary trial is on May 18. Yeah, welcome to the long-winded court system.