The Utah judge in the murder case over Charlie Kirk’s killing held prosecutors in contempt of court on Friday over comments they made to media organizations about defendant Tyler Robinson’s guilt.
Judge Tony Graf said the comments violated his restrictions on what the two sides can say about the case outside of court.
But Graf denied a defense request to take the death penalty off the table as a sanction for the violation. He said the problem could instead be resolved through the screening and questioning process for potential jurors, which is intended to weed out people who could be biased about the case.
Robinson has not yet entered a plea. The 23-year-old from southwestern Utah is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump who was shot in the neck while addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University.
Defense attorneys had accused Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard of trying to influence potential jurors by going on a “media tour” to talk about ballistics evidence in the case. Ballard also said prosecutors had enough evidence to show Robinson murdered Kirk.
Legal experts had said blocking the death penalty would have been an extreme remedy. Graf said it would have been “grossly disproportionate” to the misconduct.
Ballard argued that he had a right to speak to the press to correct misinformation about a preliminary finding by ballistics experts.
Those experts’ initial tests did not match the bullet fragment with a gun that investigators believe was used to kill Kirk. That spurred stories by some publications raising questions about the prosecution’s case: A March 30 headline in the U.K.-based Daily Mail reported that the bullet that killed Kirk “did NOT match” the rifle investigators say was used to kill Kirk.
Ballard said he was trying to “set the record straight,” when he told media organizations the ballistics tests were inconclusive to determine whether the bullet was fired from the suspected murder weapon.
Conjecture over that evidence fueled unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that there might have been a second shooter, or that Kirk’s death was staged. Attorneys on both sides have raised concerns that the misinformation and extensive media attention could taint the potential jury pool.
Graf said the comments about the bullet did not violate the court’s rules, but that Ballard went too far when he went on to say that prosecutors had “ample evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyler Robinson committed this murder.”
The judge said those additional public statements possessed a “substantial likelihood” of prejudicing the case.
The judge added that the comments were not made out of any malicious desire by prosecutors to taint the jury pool, and that his ruling had nothing to do with the charges or Robinson’s guilt.
“Its sole purpose is enforcement of a narrowly tailored publicity order governing attorney conduct,” Graf said.
Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.
The Associated Press left telephone and email messages seeking comment from prosecutors and Robinson’s lawyers.