Justice Department prosecutors have enraged a Utah judge over public statements that they issued to the media.
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Judge Tony Graf issued a contempt of court penalty on Friday after prosecutors told the celebrity gossip site TMZ that they had “ample evidence” to win their conviction of 23-year-old Tyler Robinson.
TMZ, which has been friendly in its coverage and partnership with President Donald Trump, quoted Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard in an April 16 report detailing details involving the case, including ballistics on the bullet fragments and the gun.
The New York Times reported that lawyers are limited in what they’re allowed to say publicly when a case involves the death penalty. Robinson’s lawyers said that it should mean the death penalty is off the table, but Judge Graf wouldn’t go that far. Instead, he issued a fine for prosecutors, which the judge said would go to pay attorneys’ fees and legal filings for Robinson.
He will also consider whether to expand the jury selection process to determine whether potential jurors were influenced by the comments prosecutors made to TMZ.
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Robinson hasn’t entered a plea yet, and there have been many procedural disputes between the lawyers, the Times reported.
In March, the defense submitted court filings saying that the bullet fragment recovered during Kirk’s autopsy didn’t match the rifle tied to Robinson, the report said. The report actually found it to be “inconclusive.” That led to a slew of social media debates about whether Robinson was the real killer, whether there was a conspiracy afoot from the Trump administration or even Kirk’s wife.
When TMZ called Ballard for comment, he pushed back against the filing publicly. Ballard issued several statements speaking generally about the matter, but when he talked to TMZ, he went into significantly more detail, making the comment that got the office into trouble.
The judge tried to blame the defense, saying that their court filings set off the “media frenzy” and he did not believe Ballard spoke, “out of a malicious desire to flout this court’s authority.” The defense never spoke out publicly about the filing; it merely submitted it to the court, and such documents are public. Blaming the “media frenzy” on the defense could ultimately be something that the defense uses in the appeal process for Robinson.
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The four-day hearing is set for the beginning of July.
