A Utah judge held a lead prosecutor in the Charlie Kirk murder case in civil contempt Friday for telling a tabloid outlet the state had "ample evidence" to convict defendant Tyler Robinson, but declined to remove the death penalty as the defense requested.

Fourth District Judge Tony Graf Jr. ruled in a virtual hearing that Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard violated a pretrial publicity order, then said expanded jury screening, not a ban on capital punishment, was the appropriate remedy.

Graf drew a sharp line between two sets of Ballard's spring media appearances.

The judge said Ballard was free to correct what prosecutors viewed as misleading defense framing of an inconclusive Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ballistics report, which examined a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk's body.

But Ballard's remark to TMZ that the state had "ample evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyler Robinson committed this murder" went too far, the judge said, finding the comment carried "a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the proceedings."

Defense attorney Richard Novak had urged the judge to bar capital punishment as the only sanction proportionate to what he called an "extremely reckless" prosecutorial "media tour" aimed at the jury pool.

Graf said the remedy was legally unavailable and disproportionate.

"Striking the death penalty is grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and legally unavailable in this civil contempt framework," he said while ordering the state to cover the defense's legal fees from the contempt fight.

Graf said he would address any residual prejudice through the jury selection process, including more questionnaires and an enlarged jury pool.

The ruling leaves prosecutors free to pursue a death sentence against Robinson, 23, who is charged with aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of Kirk last Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.

Robinson has not entered a plea.

The contempt fight grew out of Ballard's March and April interviews with TMZ, USA Today, PolitiFact, and Fox News after a defense filing seized on language stating that the ATF was "unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson."

Prosecutors said the filing omitted that the ATF also could not exclude the rifle as the source, leaving the analysis inconclusive.

The case now moves to a five-day preliminary hearing beginning July 6, with Graf weighing probable cause to bring Robinson to trial.