Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Tyler Robinson Preliminary Hearing Transcripts (Day 3 Part 4) (10/4/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. In
- 0:03Speaker 1: this episode, we're going to pick back up with the
- 0:05Speaker 1: Tyler Robinson transcript from day number three of the prelim hearing.
- 0:10Speaker 1: Once again, prosecution is doing the questioning. Question, all right,
- 0:15Speaker 1: turning to a different topic. Judge, I'm aware that there
- 0:18Speaker 1: are going to be some objections about this and we'll
- 0:21Speaker 1: have to address, but I just want to lay a
- 0:23Speaker 1: little bit of foundation first before we get there. You've
- 0:26Speaker 1: mentioned them already. Are you familiar with an individual named
- 0:29Speaker 1: Lance Twiggs? Answer, yes, I am. Question, and who is
- 0:33Speaker 1: he in regards to the investigation? Answer, he's the roommate
- 0:37Speaker 1: of Tyler Robinson. Answer, was he interviewed as part of
- 0:40Speaker 1: the investigation? Answer, he was. Question, how many times? Answer,
- 0:46Speaker 1: two times. Question, when was the first time? Answer, the
- 0:49Speaker 1: first time was early morning hours of September 12th, and
- 0:52Speaker 1: that occurred at St. George Police Department. Answer, so... We've
- 0:57Speaker 1: heard of several people coming in and being spoken with
- 1:01Speaker 1: at Washington County Sheriff's Office. Answer, correct. Question, Mr. Twiggs
- 1:06Speaker 1: was spoken with at St. George PD? Answer, correct. Question,
- 1:11Speaker 1: do you know who was present for that interview? Answer,
- 1:13Speaker 1: it was FBI agent Larson and agent Ling. Question, are
- 1:17Speaker 1: you aware of Mr. Twiggs' buccal swab that was taken
- 1:20Speaker 1: at the time? Answer, I don't recall that happening there.
- 1:24Speaker 1: I believe it happened later. I'd have to, but it
- 1:26Speaker 1: did occur. That was obtained from him. Question, okay, but
- 1:29Speaker 1: you're not sure if it happened on the 12th. Answer,
- 1:32Speaker 1: I don't recall if it was there later or at
- 1:35Speaker 1: his residence. Question, but ultimately a buccal swab was obtained
- 1:39Speaker 1: from Mr. Twiggs. Answer, yes, it was. Question, do you
- 1:42Speaker 1: know if his phone was taken from him? It was. Answer, question,
- 1:46Speaker 1: when did that happen? Answer, so it was during the
- 1:49Speaker 1: interview with the FBI at St. George Police Department. They
- 1:53Speaker 1: conducted an interview of him and then he provided his phone.
- 1:56Speaker 1: He did it voluntarily also, provided it to those agents. Question,
- 2:01Speaker 1: and that would have been on September 12th, 2025. Answer, correct. Question,
- 2:05Speaker 1: you mentioned the second interview of Mr. Twiggs. Answer, there
- 2:09Speaker 1: was a second interview, yes. Question, and when did that
- 2:12Speaker 1: take place? Answer, April 20th of this year. Question, where
- 2:16Speaker 1: was that? Answer, happened at the Utah County Attorney's Office. Question,
- 2:21Speaker 1: who was present at the second interview. Answer, it was Mr. Twiggs,
- 2:25Speaker 1: his attorney, Jill Cottrell. It was Lauren Hunt, Sam Peed,
- 2:29Speaker 1: with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Ryan McBride, Sergeant Elsholes, well,
- 2:33Speaker 1: now it's Lieutenant Elsholes, and myself. Question, we've talked about
- 2:38Speaker 1: two interviews of Mr. Twiggs, one on the morning of
- 2:40Speaker 1: September 12th, 2025, and the second on April 20th, 2026.
- 2:46Speaker 1: Are you aware if both those interviews were recorded? Answer,
- 2:49Speaker 1: they were. Question, have you reviewed those recordings? Answer, I have. Question,
- 2:55Speaker 1: before Mr. Twigg's interview on April 20th, 2026, well, first,
- 2:59Speaker 1: let me ask you this. Are you aware of what
- 3:02Speaker 1: the use of immunity means? Answer, yes. Question, what does
- 3:05Speaker 1: it mean? Answer, it's a letter. Use of immunity is
- 3:09Speaker 1: essentially giving the individual, during the limited time of their statement,
- 3:13Speaker 1: They're given that immunity from statements that are made in
- 3:15Speaker 1: regard to an incident, but it does not preclude them
- 3:18Speaker 1: from prosecution from evidence that would be known or found
- 3:21Speaker 1: then or later outside of that interview. It just gives
- 3:24Speaker 1: them limited immunity during the time of the interview. Question, okay,
- 3:29Speaker 1: so for any statement made during the interview, they're given
- 3:32Speaker 1: immunity for that, but they're not generally prohibited from being
- 3:35Speaker 1: potentially prosecuted outside of that interview. Is that fair? Answer,
- 3:39Speaker 1: that's my understanding, yes. Question, was Mr. Twiggs given use immunity? Answer, yes,
- 3:45Speaker 1: he was. Question, by what offices? Answer, the Utah County's
- 3:49Speaker 1: office as well as the United States Attorney's office. Question,
- 3:52Speaker 1: you mentioned that both of Mr. Twiggs' interviews were recorded.
- 3:56Speaker 1: Have you reviewed those recordings? Answer, yes, I have. Question,
- 3:59Speaker 1: do they fairly and accurately depict those interviews? Answer, yes,
- 4:03Speaker 1: they do. Question, we've talked about 1102 statements. We've talked
- 4:07Speaker 1: about a form that you talked about that there is
- 4:10Speaker 1: an admonition On there, that warns that if false statements
- 4:13Speaker 1: are given pursuant to 1102, then that the person may
- 4:17Speaker 1: be subject to a Class A misdemeanor. Is that fair? Answer, yeah,
- 4:21Speaker 1: that's correct. Question, was a similar admonition given to Mr.
- 4:24Speaker 1: Twiggs during his second or before his second interview on
- 4:27Speaker 1: April 20th, 2026? Answer, yes, it was. Question, by whom? Answer,
- 4:32Speaker 1: by Ryan McBride with the Utah County Attorney's Office. Question,
- 4:37Speaker 1: and again, were you present for that interview? Answer, I was. Question,
- 4:41Speaker 1: did Mr. Twiggs say that he understood that admonition? Answer,
- 4:45Speaker 1: he did, yep, yes. Question, was he told that the
- 4:48Speaker 1: April 20th, 2026 interview was being taken in lieu of
- 4:51Speaker 1: him having to come and testify at the prelim hearing? Answer,
- 4:55Speaker 1: yes it was, yes he was. Question, alright judge, I'm
- 5:00Speaker 1: aware that the defense counsel has objections to this recorded 1102.
- 5:04Speaker 1: I think now is probably a good time to address them.
- 5:06Speaker 1: But I do have, I guess, I understand. that they're
- 5:09Speaker 1: suggesting redactions to the video. I have some procedural objections first,
- 5:13Speaker 1: and if Your Honor sustains those, I think it may
- 5:16Speaker 1: make the substance of the statements or the objections or
- 5:19Speaker 1: the redactions that the defense is proposing moot. So I'm
- 5:22Speaker 1: wondering if Your Honor will entertain my response procedurally first
- 5:25Speaker 1: before we get into the substance of what the defense
- 5:28Speaker 1: is objecting to. Does that make sense? Judge Graff? Yeah,
- 5:32Speaker 1: if you want to move it, because right now nothing's
- 5:34Speaker 1: before me. Prosecution? Yes, well, I want to move. so
- 5:38Speaker 1: defense proposed about a day and a half ago they
- 5:40Speaker 1: created a transcript. Mr. Novak has proffered this earlier to
- 5:44Speaker 1: Your Honor on April, and I'll give you a little
- 5:46Speaker 1: more proffer. On April 28, 2026, the Utah County Attorney's
- 5:51Speaker 1: Office provided this recorded 1102 statement of Mr. Twiggs to
- 5:56Speaker 1: defense counsel. They have acknowledged the receipt and mentioned the
- 6:00Speaker 1: recorded statement at previous hearings. In fact, they even filed
- 6:04Speaker 1: a brief that Your Honor has decided on about whether
- 6:06Speaker 1: 1102 can be applicable to Mr. Twiggs at the hearing,
- 6:10Speaker 1: which Your Honor has ruled upon. Monday at about 4 p.m.,
- 6:14Speaker 1: defense counsel sent us a transcript that was prepared by defense,
- 6:18Speaker 1: the defense team, and it had significant redactions that they
- 6:21Speaker 1: were suggesting. It was about a 21-page transcript, and their
- 6:25Speaker 1: suggested redactions are approximately 11 pages of it. In total,
- 6:29Speaker 1: redactions appear on 16 of 21 pages. my procedural objections
- 6:35Speaker 1: into this area, that this is essentially by surprise. We
- 6:39Speaker 1: were already a day into the prelim hearing. Defense counsel
- 6:42Speaker 1: had been aware since at least April 28th, 2026, when
- 6:46Speaker 1: the recorded 1102 of Mr. Twiggs was provided to them,
- 6:50Speaker 1: that this is how we intended to proceed. And like
- 6:53Speaker 1: I said, they had already briefed the 1102 issue as
- 6:56Speaker 1: it relates to Mr. Twiggs. At the time, they did
- 6:59Speaker 1: not raise any objections to the substance of it, or
- 7:03Speaker 1: propose any redactions that they wished. And yeah, frankly, it's
- 7:06Speaker 1: by surprise, and it's at this point disrupting the hearing.
- 7:10Speaker 1: I did mention that the defense prepared a transcript of
- 7:13Speaker 1: this recorded interview. How the state intended to present it,
- 7:16Speaker 1: and how we have given it into discovery to defense,
- 7:19Speaker 1: is it's a video, audio, and visual. Making redactions to
- 7:23Speaker 1: that is not simple as a transcript where you can
- 7:25Speaker 1: just block out sections of text, so it's far more
- 7:28Speaker 1: complicated than that to edit or redact portions of the
- 7:31Speaker 1: video at this time. so we would object procedurally basically
- 7:34Speaker 1: on the timeliness of it that they had the opportunity
- 7:38Speaker 1: to make these objections if they had them at the
- 7:40Speaker 1: time when the 1102 issued in regards to Lance Twiggs
- 7:44Speaker 1: was briefed and decided by your honor. They did not
- 7:47Speaker 1: do that or raise the issue at the time, so
- 7:50Speaker 1: we would object just procedurally on those grounds. Additionally, the
- 7:54Speaker 1: remedy requested, which I'm assuming is that we make redactions
- 7:57Speaker 1: to the video or present it as a transcript rather
- 7:59Speaker 1: than a video, is disproportionate. Even assuming if there was
- 8:04Speaker 1: an isolated statement that the court would not ultimately consider, again,
- 8:08Speaker 1: as Mr. McBride pointed out, and as Your Honor has
- 8:11Speaker 1: stated throughout the hearing, this is a prelim hearing. To
- 8:14Speaker 1: the court, it's not the jury. The court is fully
- 8:17Speaker 1: capable of disregarding any statement that determines exceeds the proper scope.
- 8:23Speaker 1: As Mr. McBride cited this morning, several cases give Your
- 8:26Speaker 1: Honor the authority and presumption that judges are able to
- 8:29Speaker 1: basically make the difference between what's admissible evidence and and
- 8:32Speaker 1: disregard what may not be at a prelim hearing or
- 8:36Speaker 1: even at a bench trial. State vs. Adams is one
- 8:39Speaker 1: of those cases. If your honor wants the citation again,
- 8:42Speaker 1: I'm happy to give it. State vs. Featherston is another one.
- 8:46Speaker 1: That one is 781 P2D 424. State vs. Hannigan is
- 8:47Speaker 1: another one. 2004 Utah APP 165 and State vs. Rosecrans
- 8:50Speaker 1: 2024 Utah APP 128. And those cases all stand for
- 9:02Speaker 1: the notion that essentially judges, and this is a quote
- 9:05Speaker 1: from Rosecrans, judges are not subject to many of the
- 9:08Speaker 1: same concerns about prejudice and improper influence as jurors. So again, procedurally,
- 9:13Speaker 1: the remedy asking us to now, in the middle of
- 9:16Speaker 1: a week-long prelim hearing, of which everyone was aware, edit
- 9:19Speaker 1: or alter, or redact portions of this video recording 1102,
- 9:23Speaker 1: that remedy is disproportionate. If there are any potentially objectionable
- 9:29Speaker 1: statements within that, Your Honor, has the ability to disregard them.
- 9:33Speaker 1: So we would prefer not to get into the substance
- 9:36Speaker 1: and argue each statement line by line. And we would
- 9:39Speaker 1: prefer to just move for its admission and have the
- 9:42Speaker 1: court use its discretion as a judge to take what's
- 9:45Speaker 1: proper versus improper, disregard anything the court might find improper.
- 9:50Speaker 1: If we could, we would like to move into substantive objections.
- 9:54Speaker 1: Then we're happy to, But if the court can rule
- 9:56Speaker 1: on those procedural objections, first, it may make... any substantive
- 10:01Speaker 1: objections moot. Judge Graff, all right, so you're moving into
- 10:05Speaker 1: evidence state exhibit 16. Prosecution, yes. Judge Graff, and as
- 10:11Speaker 1: it relates to publication, what's your request? Question, so judge,
- 10:15Speaker 1: we believe and I believe this has been discussed before
- 10:18Speaker 1: on the record. that the state is in agreement that
- 10:21Speaker 1: the media should not have the ability to handle or
- 10:24Speaker 1: replicate certain exhibits, because its video, Mr. Twiggs, is shown
- 10:27Speaker 1: certain exhibits. So we would agree that this should not
- 10:31Speaker 1: be captured by cameras and projected by the media outside
- 10:34Speaker 1: the courtroom. But we would like at least the audio,
- 10:36Speaker 1: and maybe even the video within the courtroom itself, to
- 10:39Speaker 1: be captured. That's the state's position. Judge Graff, alright, I
- 10:43Speaker 1: want to make sure I understand. So your request is
- 10:46Speaker 1: that the video not be projected and captured by the
- 10:48Speaker 1: video camera. but the video and audio is played in
- 10:51Speaker 1: the courtroom, and the audio is able to be transmitted,
- 10:54Speaker 1: just not the video via the camera. Is that my understanding? Prosecution, correct.
- 10:59Speaker 1: That's the state's position. Judge Graff, all right. And in
- 11:03Speaker 1: regards to the exhibit at State Exhibit 16, is there
- 11:06Speaker 1: any portion of that recorded statement that occurred before the
- 11:10Speaker 1: 11-2 warning was given to Mr. Twiggs? Answer, not that
- 11:13Speaker 1: we are presenting today. Judge Graff, okay, all right. Turning
- 11:17Speaker 1: to the defense. And that's where we're going to pick
- 11:20Speaker 1: up in the next episode, with Mr. Novak making the
- 11:24Speaker 1: defense's case. All the information that goes with this episode
- 11:28Speaker 1: can be found in the description box.