Prosecutor in Charlie Kirk shooting case held in contempt by judge

Judge rebukes Christopher Ballard for talking to media but declines defense’s request to take death penalty off table A Utah judge held a prosecutor in contempt on Friday for speaking to the media about the murder case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, but did not grant the defense attorney’s request to bar the death penalty as punishment in the case. Defense attorneys for Tyler James Robinson, the Utah man who allegedly shot Kirk, a conservative political activist, last September, argued in a March court filing that deputy Utah county attorney Christopher Ballard had violated a pre-trial media gag order. Robinson’s legal team had argued in a prior filing that a report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not prove the bullet that killed Kirk came from a firearm believed to belong to Robinson. The claims gained traction online and were regarded by some commentators as potentially exculpatory. Afterward, Ballard gave statements to news outlets to combat what he later described as “misinformation” regarding the interpretations of ballistics testing. Ballard told TMZ that the state had “ample evidence” to demonstrate Robinson committed the al