Charlie Kirk Murder Trial Prosecutor Held In Contempt For Speaking To The Press

A prosecutor in the Charlie Kirk murder trial has been found in civil contempt for speaking to the media about what he felt was strong evidence against the accused, 23-year-old Tyler Robinson.

Robinson was charged with murder for allegedly shooting to death the conservative activist on a Utah college campus last September.

In a virtual hearing, Judge Tony Graf Jr. announced he was holding Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard in civil contempt for talking to the media about a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body.

The ruling means the court can impose daily fines, wage garnishment, or jail time until Ballard complies with the judge’s order.

CNN’s senior correspondent Josh Campbell reported that the judge had issued an order last year barring either side from speaking to the media to keep from prejudicing the high-profile case.

“What happened was the defense had filed a motion essentially trying to characterize some ballistic evidence from the ATF,” Campbell said. “And what they said, the defense, was that the ATF determined that a bullet recovered from the scene did not match a firearm that was recovered. What the prosecutor said was, ‘Look, that’s misleading. The ATF didn’t say it didn’t match. They said they’re not able to determine right now if it matches, which is a big difference.’ And he started calling different media outlets to try to make that point.”

Ballard had told TMZ in March, “We have ample evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyler Robinson committed this murder, and we will present some of the evidence at the upcoming preliminary hearing — and then we will present all of that evidence at trial.”

The defense wanted Judge Graf to take the death penalty off the table to make up for the prosecutor potentially prejudicing a jury.

According to Campbell, however, “The judge said, ‘I’m not going that far. I’m not going to do that. That would require much, much more egregious type of violation.'”

For now, that means the death penalty remains on the table if they get to the sentencing phase.

Robinson has yet to enter a plea in the case.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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