Utah County Attorney’s Office found in contempt in Robinson case, but death penalty still on table

PROVO — The Utah County Attorney’s Office spokesman, Chris Ballard, was in civil contempt of 4th District Judge Tony Graf’s pretrial publicity order banning attorneys from making extra statements to the media that could potentially prejudice a jury pool.

But Graf is rejecting a request by Tyler Robinson and his defense team to penalize the state by removing the option of seeking the death penalty.

On Friday, Graf announced his decision on whether statements made by Ballard to national news programs violated the judge’s order barring attorneys on both sides from discussing the case in the media.

Robinson, 23, is accused of shooting and killing political activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. He faces a potential death sentence if convicted.

In March, Robinson and his defense team filed a motion to delay his preliminary hearing, which was granted and moved to July 6-10. In that motion, Robinson noted that an initial report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “indicates that the ATF was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson.”

That bit of information created a “tidal wave” of media coverage, some of it questioning whether the state’s case had just imploded, prosecutors stated. To correct what they say was “misleading information,” the Utah County Attorney’s Office issued a statement and Ballard went on several national news programs saying that the defense should have said the ATF report could not identify “or exclude” that the bullet fragment matched a rifle believed to have been used by Robinson.

On Friday, Graf acknowledged that while the statement in Robinson’s motion regarding the ATF report was “technically accurate,” it was also “highly prone to misinterpretation” and created “highly sensationalized and factual inaccurate headlines” in the media. Under Utah law, Ballard was allowed to correct that misinformation, the judge ruled.

However, it was statements that Ballard made to TMZ, in addition to talking about the bullet fragment evidence, that Graf says crossed the line.

After talking about the ATF report, Ballard said, “We have ample evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyler Robinson committed this murder and we will present some of that evidence at the upcoming preliminary hearing — and then we will present all of that evidence at the trial.”

But Graf says those comments, particularly in this high-profile case, violated the pre-trial publicity order that he says “was exceptionally clear.” In this case, the judge says Robinson’s 6th Amendment right to an impartial jury weighs heavily, and that there is a “ceiling on prosecution speech.” By saying that, prosecutors believe they have ample evidence to show that Robinson’s killing of Kirk was unnecessary and could potentially influence a jury.

The judge, however, rejected Robinson’s request to pull the death penalty from the table as a sanction for the contempt, saying that it “is grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and legally unavailable.”

Instead, Graf said the jury pool would be expanded and questionnaires adjusted to weed out people who were potentially influenced by those statements. Furthermore, Robinson’s attorneys can bill the Utah County Attorney’s Office for the time they spent preparing their contempt motion and presenting their arguments in court.

 

Also on Friday, Graf announced he would issue a written decision next week on Robinson’s request to ban electronic media from the courtroom during the preliminary hearing, currently scheduled to begin July 6.

“Continuing electronic media coverage of the proceedings in this case, particularly the preliminary hearing, threatens Mr. Robinson’s rights to a fair trial by an impartial jury by perpetuating bias in the public against Mr. Robinson,” the defense argued.

The state and attorneys for the media, however, say that keeping the proceedings as transparent as possible is needed to maintain public trust in the process.

Robinson has also appealed Graf’s decision allowing cameras in the courtroom to the Utah Supreme Court and has asked the state’s high court to pause all legal proceedings in the Robinson case until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear his appeal.

This week, the Utah Attorney General’s Office filed its response, objecting to any effort to delay Robinson’s criminal case.

“This court should deny Robinson’s motion to stay because it seeks extraordinary relief and Robinson has not followed the procedures or made the showing required to obtain extraordinary relief,” their objection states. “And Robinson has not demonstrated that he will be irreparably harmed if the trial court is allowed to continue with its proceedings in the ordinary course.”

This story will be updated