CHARLIE Kirk’s alleged assassin will still face the death penalty at trial despite a judge finding a prosecutor in contempt of court.
Judge Tony Graf refused to strip capital punishment from the case against Tyler Robinson after ruling that Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard violated a pretrial publicity order.
The decision was handed down on Friday in Utah, where Robinson is accused of murdering the conservative activist.
Graf found that Ballard went too far in media interviews by discussing Robinson’s alleged guilt and the strength of the state’s evidence.
Robinson’s lawyers had urged the judge to punish the Utah County Attorney’s Office by removing the death penalty as a possible sentence.
But Graf rejected that request, meaning prosecutors can continue seeking capital punishment if Robinson is convicted.
Prosecutors said he was trying to correct misleading reports about ballistics evidence in the case.
Graf said Ballard had not spoken to reporters out of a malicious desire to defy the court or influence potential jurors.
However, the judge ruled that some of his comments went beyond what the court’s order allowed.
“Those additional public statements possessed a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the proceedings,” Graf said.
The dispute centered on a defense filing about the bullet recovered during Kirk’s autopsy.
The filing said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been unable to identify the bullet as coming from the rifle allegedly linked to Robinson.
Prosecutors argued that the filing left out the fact that investigators had also not excluded the rifle as the weapon that fired it.
The wording fueled reports suggesting that the bullet did not match the gun allegedly used in the shooting.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16585388/charlie-kirk-killer-tyler-robinson-trial-death-penalty-rule/
