Handwriting expert says he didn't know reporter sought Ramsey note
Owen S. Good, News Staff Writer
Published June 14, 2001 at midnight
GOLDEN -- A Boulder handwriting expert testified Wednesday that he had no idea that a Globe tabloid reporter intended to buy a copy of the ransom note found the day JonBenet Ramsey's body was discovered.
Thomas Miller, 50, told jurors he was advising Globe reporter Craig Lewis for $150 an hour at the time of the April 1, 1997, encounter with investigator Donald Vacca in his Evergreen home.
Miller said he was stunned when Lewis demanded the note in exchange for $30,000.
Jefferson County prosecutors say the offer was a commercial bribery attempt because Vacca was offered money to betray his responsibilities to the Ramseys.
Miller said he had no part of the bribery attempt because he did not know Vacca was employed by the Ramseys, or that he had a copy of the ransom note.
Miller said he had arranged an interview with Vacca at Lewis' request.
Vacca ordered the men out of his home after the demand for the note and called authorities.
On cross-examination, Miller told prosecutor Dennis Hall that he had made "an educated guess" that Vacca, also a handwriting expert, could have been in possession of the ransom note.
Hall also pointed out that Miller arranged the interview by misleading Vacca's wife on the phone.
In opening statements Tuesday, an attorney for Miller said Ramsey lawyers pressured the Jefferson County district attorney's office to prosecute him.
And Wednesday, David L. Williams, an investigator retained by Ramsey lawyers, said he spent a month investigating Miller's background to find material that could be used against Miller if he were called as a witness in a murder trial.
Ramsey friend Fleet White and former Boulder detective Steve Thomas were called to testify Wednesday but did not appear.
Bribery charges against Lewis were dropped after the Globe donated $100,000 to the University of Colorado journalism school as part of a plea agreement.
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