NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!. Facing what appears to be an extensive body of evidence, attorneys for accused Charlie Kirk killer Tyler Robinson signaled in a new filing they may call an ATF agent to the stand — if his inconclusive ballistic findings undercut the case.. “Regarding the firearm evidence, the defense has been provided with an ATF summary report which indicates that the ATF was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson,” Robinson’s attorneys wrote in a motion to vacate or postpone their client’s preliminary hearing. “Although the State has not indicated an intent to produce this report at the preliminary hearing, the defense may very well decide to offer the testimony of the ATF firearm analyst as exculpatory evidence.”. The brief line appears to indicate that the defense doesn’t think prosecutors can prove the bullet that killed Kirk came from the Mauser rifle recovered near the crime scene, which prosecutors allege had Robinson’s DNA on it and had been given to him by his father.. But experts say inconclusive testing doesn’t mean the match has been ruled out, and investigators have compiled other evidence in the case — including allegations that Robinson confessed or implied guilt to family and friends.. MAN CHARGED IN CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION SEEKS TO SEAL EVIDENCE FROM PUBLIC. “It’s not uncommon for a round that went through a human body, especially if it traveled through tissue, to say conclusively that it’s tied to a specific firearm, because by nature the projectile is supposed to transfer all of its kinetic energy, and it often disintegrates into fragments and whatnot,” said Bernard Zapor, a former ATF special agent in charge and faculty associate at Arizona State University. “The fact that it went through several bone structures, there was going to be very little left.”. As a result, it would be unfair to conclude that the bullet hadn’t been fired out of the rifle police recovered nearby, experts told Fox News Digital.. If the ATF had definitively ruled out Robinson’s rifle, that filing would say so in plain English, because that would be a bombshell. It doesn’t say that.. — Jason Pack, retired FBI supervisory special agent. “Unable to identify is not the same as ruled out,” said retired FBI supervisor agent Jason Pack. “That’s a finding of inconclusiveness, not exoneration.”. HOW AND WHERE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRACKED TYLER ROBINSON’S ALLEGED PATH ACROSS UVU CAMPUS. Two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation later told Fox News that the reason the ATF was unable to match the bullet to the rifle is because when the bullet impacted Kirk’s body it hit bone and broke on impact.. The forensic pathologist pulled fragments out of Kirk’s body, not an intact bullet. The sources said it is impossible to do ballistics analysis on a bullet fragment.. The testing did positively confirm that the spent shell casing found at the scene matched
