Judge Denies Robinson’s Attempt To Have Potential Death Penalty Removed

A Utah judge ruled Friday that Tyler Robinson, who is accused of the attempted assassination of Charlie Kirk, remains eligible for the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder. Judge Tony Graf Jr. ruled Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard was in contempt of a court order for statements he made about his opinion on the strength of evidence in the case. However, the judge ruled that he wasn’t wrong for making other statements in which he disputed a misleading characterization about specific ballistic evidence from a defense court filing. So Graf threw out Robinson’s claim that the proper remedy was to remove the potential death penalty, and instead, he said he would expand the jury selection process to ensure a fair trial.

Prosecutors had argued they complied with the gag order and all other court rules when they “set the record straight” after what they say was a misleading statement from a defense filing that led to viral news coverage suggesting the ATF could not match the bullet that killed Kirk to the suspected murder weapon, Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle. According to court records, the ATF described the toolmark analysis as inconclusive and said it could not determine whether the bullet fragment found in Kirk came from Robinson’s grandfather’s rifle.