- Judge Tony Graf will make a decision on contempt allegations against Utah County Attorney's Office.
- A prosecutor is accused of violating a gag order by discussing Tyler Robinson case publicly.
- Robinson's defense seeks to remove death penalty and restrict media in court.
PROVO — A decision on whether the Utah County Attorney's Office should be held in contempt for allegedly violating the judge's gag order in the Tyler Robinson capital murder case is expected Friday.
Fourth District Judge Tony Graf delayed his ruling on Monday to review additional evidence before announcing his decision.
At issue is whether statements made by prosecutor Chris Ballad, the Utah County Attorney's Office spokesman, to national news programs was in violation of Graf's order for attorneys on both sides not to talk about the case in the media.
Robinson, 23, is accused of shooting and killing political activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. He faces a potential death sentence if convicted.
In March, Robinson and his defense team filed a motion to delay his preliminary hearing, which was granted and moved to July 6-10. In that motion, Robinson noted that an initial report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "indicates that the ATF was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson."
That bit of information created a "tidal wave" of media coverage, some of it questioning whether the state's case had just imploded, prosecutors stated. To correct what they say was "misleading information," the Utah County Attorney's Office issued a statement and Ballard went on several national news programs saying that the defense should have said the ATF report could not identify "or exclude" that the bullet fragment matched a rifle believed to have been used by Robinson.
"The state has been saying all along that media coverage has not prejudiced the case, but when it suits them, they say they've already determined that their case is prejudiced, so they need to correct the perception in the jury pool so they can have a right to a fair trial," defense attorney Richard Novack argued. "What was going on here was an attempt to influence the jury pool."
The state countered that Ballard never directly said he believed Robinson was guilty and that nothing he said to the media violated the court's rules since he was addressing evidence already mentioned in publicly filed court documents.
Nevertheless, Novack contends that Graf should find the office in contempt and take the death penalty off the table as a sanction.
Graf is also expected to announce on Friday his decision on another request by Robinson's defense team to keep cameras and microphones out of the courtroom during the preliminary hearing.
"Continuing electronic media coverage of the proceedings in this case, particularly the preliminary hearing, threatens Mr. Robinson's rights to a fair trial by an impartial jury by perpetuating bias in the public against Mr. Robinson," the defense argued.
The state and attorneys for the media, however, say that keeping the proceedings as transparent as possible is needed to maintain public trust in the process.
Robinson has also appealed Graf's decision allowing cameras in the courtroom to the Utah Supreme Court and has asked the state's high court to pause all legal proceedings in the Robinson case until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear his appeal.
This week, the Utah Attorney General's Office filed its response, objecting to any effort to delay Robinson's criminal case.
"This court should deny Robinson's motion to stay because it seeks extraordinary relief and Robinson has not followed the procedures or made the showing required to obtain extraordinary relief," their objection states. "And Robinson has not demonstrated that he will be irreparably harmed if the trial court is allowed to continue with its proceedings in the ordinary course."
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