Overview
- District Court Judge Tony Graf found Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard in civil contempt on June 26 for public comments about the case and ordered the prosecution to reimburse the defense for fees related to the contempt motion.
- Graf rejected the defense request to bar the state from seeking the death penalty, saying striking the death notice would be legally unavailable in the civil contempt framework and “grossly disproportionate” to Ballard’s conduct.
- Ballard spoke to outlets including TMZ, USA Today, PolitiFact and Fox News to counter reporting about ballistics results, and the judge concluded those statements went beyond correcting misinformation and posed a substantial likelihood of prejudicing jurors.
- Court records show the ATF’s tool‑mark analysis was inconclusive — it could neither identify nor exclude the suspect rifle as the source of the fatal fragment — and prosecutors plan to present ballistics, DNA, surveillance, phone and prerecorded witness evidence at a five‑day probable‑cause hearing starting July 6.
- The ruling underscores how judges balance free press, prosecutorial discretion and fair‑trial rules, and it leaves the next major developments to ATF testing and the July preliminary hearing that will determine whether the case moves to trial.