DENVER — A Utah judge overseeing the murder trial in Charlie Kirk’s killing held the prosecution in contempt of court Friday for telling online news outlet TMZ that prosecutors had “ample evidence” to win a conviction.

Judge Tony Graf said the statement by one of the prosecutors had violated an order limiting what lawyers in the death penalty case were allowed to say in public.

But Graf denied a request from the defense to punish prosecutors by throwing out the death penalty as a possible punishment for Tyler J. Robinson, the 23-year-old Utah man accused of gunning down Kirk in September at a forum at Utah Valley University.

Removing the death penalty would be “grossly disproportionate” to the contempt violation, Graf said Friday as he read his lengthy ruling from the bench.

Graf instead ordered prosecutors to pay the attorney’s fees and other costs relating to the legal filings and a hearing conducted earlier this month into the contempt charge. The judge also said he would consider expanding the jury-selection process when the case goes to trial, to determine whether any potential jurors were influenced by the prosecution’s comments.

Kirk’s killing and the subsequent search drew a crush of attention and news coverage to Utah, and early in the criminal case against Robinson, Graf issued an order that placed strict limits on what the prosecution and defense were allowed to say to the media.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea, and the progress toward his murder trial has been bogged down by procedural disputes over issues such as allowing cameras in the courtroom. The contempt ruling Friday concluded another lengthy sidebar.

Both sides have said little outside the courtroom since Robinson was charged with murder. But that changed in March when the defense filed papers with the court suggesting that a bullet fragment recovered during Kirk’s autopsy did not match the rifle tied to Robinson.

In reality, an analysis by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that the analysis was inconclusive, not exculpatory, and that the bullet fragment could not be identified or excluded, officials later said.

The filing set off a frenzy of speculation on social media and generated what Graf on Friday called “highly sensationalized and factually inaccurate headlines,” with some suggesting the prosecution’s case had a fatal flaw.

Several news outlets called prosecutors for comment, and Utah County’s deputy attorney, Christopher Ballard, took the lead in publicly pushing back against speculation that the bullet fragment did not match the gun.

Ballard, a spokesperson for the office who is also on the prosecution team, did several news media interviews in which he spoke in general terms about what it means when a bullet analysis is inconclusive. Those comments, Graf ruled Friday, were an acceptable attempt to correct the record.

But Ballard went further in one interview with TMZ, telling the outlet: “We have ample evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyler Robinson committed this murder.”

Graf said the defense had set off the “media frenzy” with its filing and said that Ballard had not done the interviews “out of a malicious desire to flout this court’s authority.” Still, the judge said that a prosecutor’s statements carried special weight, particularly in a death-penalty case.

The Utah County attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s ruling.

Early in July, prosecutors are expected to lay out much of their case against Robinson during a four-day hearing to determine whether they have probable cause to go to trial.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jack Healy/Loren Elliott
c. 2026 The New York Times Company