The man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk is now trying to make sure the public can't see the evidence against him — or watch his preliminary hearing. Tyler Robinson's defense team marched into Judge Tony Graf's Utah County courtroom this week with motions to restrict media access and suppress evidence ahead of the July preliminary hearing, because apparently the only thing scarier than facing seven counts including aggravated murder is facing them on camera.

Nothing says "I'm confident in my client's innocence" like demanding nobody be allowed to watch the proceedings.

Defense attorney Richard Novak and co-counsel Staci Visser are pushing hard to limit what the public gets to see when Robinson's preliminary hearing kicks off July 6-10. State attorney Ryan McBride argued that the case has already generated massive public interest, telling the court, "In this case, there was a tidal wave of media garnering more than 10 million views in a matter of hours." No kidding. A prominent conservative figure was murdered. People tend to pay attention to that.

But Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander pushed back against the defense's attempt to draw the curtains, delivering a line that deserves to be carved into every courthouse wall in America: "Public confidence increases when people can see justice at work." Amen to that, counselor.

The defense is also trying to haul Utah County Attorney Chris Ballard into a contempt hearing over alleged gag order violations, claiming prosecutors mischaracterized an ATF report about a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk's body. Novak told the court, "If Mr. Ballard and his colleagues thought that we mischaracterized the ATF report... they could have done at least three things." The ATF report apparently found the bullet fragment was too damaged for a conclusive match to the rifle — which the defense clearly thinks is their golden ticket.

Here's the thing about that: a bullet being too damaged to conclusively match a specific weapon is not the same thing as your client being innocent. It's one piece of evidence in a case with seven counts, including aggravated murder carrying the death penalty. The prosecution isn't seeking the ultimate punishment because they found a parking ticket.

Robinson remains held without bond — a detail his defense team conveniently doesn't seem to be contesting with the same vigor they're bringing to blocking camera crews. Judge Graf has set a June 1 deadline to rule on the media access motion and June 12 for the contempt question. The preliminary hearing itself runs July 6 through 10.

Also expected at the hearing: a prerecorded statement from Lance Twiggs, Robinson's transgender partner, along with videos described as being of a "sensitive nature." We'll leave that one alone for now.

Look, we all know how this works. The defense playbook when you're sitting on a pile of bad evidence is delay, suppress, restrict, and hope the public loses interest. Robinson's lawyers are running that playbook to perfection. They want the courtroom dark, the cameras off, and the evidence locked in a drawer.

Too bad for them, per Megyn Kelly's reporting, the prosecution isn't playing along — and neither is the public. Charlie Kirk was murdered, and 10 million people watched the fallout in real time. You don't get to stuff that back in the bottle because it's inconvenient for your client's defense strategy.

Judge Graf has a decision to make. Let's hope he remembers what Grunander told him — justice works best when people can actually see it.