A Utah judge ruled Friday that Tyler Robinson, accused of attempting to assassinate conservative activist Charlie Kirk, remains eligible for the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder.
Judge Tony Graf Jr. found that Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard violated a court gag order by expressing opinions about the strength of evidence against Robinson. However, Graf rejected Robinson’s request to remove capital punishment as a potential sentence, calling such a remedy \”grossly disproportionate\” to the misconduct.
The Ruling
Graf said he would instead expand the jury selection process to ensure a fair trial. \”The court finds that striking the death penalty is grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and legally unavailable in this civil contempt framework,\” the judge stated.
The dispute centered on a defense court filing that prosecutors claimed mischaracterized ballistic evidence. Prosecutors said they were correcting the record after the filing prompted viral news coverage suggesting the ATF could not match the bullet to Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle, which authorities believe was the murder weapon.
According to court records, the ATF described its toolmark analysis as inconclusive but confirmed the bullet’s caliber matched and a spent casing found at the scene matched Robinson’s rifle.
The Contempt Finding
Ballard went beyond correcting the record in at least one media interview, Graf determined, when he expressed confidence in prosecutors’ overall case against Robinson. The judge ruled this crossed the line into improper opinion about Robinson’s guilt.
Prosecutors maintained they complied with gag order rules by responding to what they viewed as misleading defense statements. The back-and-forth has escalated into accusations of misconduct on both sides, with the defense claiming prosecutors committed
