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Apology by Boulder DA Lacy gutsy, unheard of, legal experts say

By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 10, 2008 at 4:01 p.m.
Updated July 11, 2008 at 12:43 a.m.

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Mary Lacy is being praised by colleagues for apology letter.

Mary Lacy is being praised by colleagues for apology letter.

JonBenet Ramsey's killing nearly 12 years ago has yet to be solved.

JonBenet Ramsey's killing nearly 12 years ago has yet to be solved.

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The apology Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy gave to the JonBenet Ramsey family was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary case, legal experts said Thursday.

"It was a gutsy move," said Laurie Levenson, a former prosecutor and law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

"Generally, law enforcement is not in the business of issuing apologies, but generally they're not in the business of getting it wrong."

For years after JonBenet was found dead in her Boulder home Dec. 26, 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey were considered prime suspects in her death.

"The power of the government can just destroy people's lives," Levenson said. "The impact of this investigation was extraordinary. They were run out of town, the mother died of cancer while still under a cloud of suspicion. This is one of those rare occasions when even an apology can be too little too late."

Other high-profile examples of law enforcement getting it wrong include Richard Jewell, the security guard wrongly linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing, and biological warfare scientist Steven Hatfill, who recently won $2.8 million for being wrongly designated as a "person of interest" in the anthrax scare in 2001 that killed five people.

Cast as murderers

"It may be that the Ramseys were the most unfairly victimized people in American criminal justice history," said Denver lawyer and former prosecutor Craig Silverman. "I don't think there's ever been a fact pattern such as this with sustained worldwide publicity labeling the parents as residing under an 'umbrella of suspicion.' "

In this case, the grieving parents were cast as murderers by law enforcement and the court of public opinion, the legal analysts said.

"I think Mary Lacy genuinely feels that the Ramseys have been horribly victimized, first by the horrible murder of their daughter and then by what she perceives as a grotesque injustice to these parents of a murdered child," Silverman said.

Former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant said Lacy's actions were "unprecedented. Normally if a prosecutor exonerates someone, they will do it by charging someone else. But in an open homicide investigation where it's basically a who-done-it, it's pretty unheard of."

Silverman noted that in exonerating the Ramseys, Lacy contradicted a statement she made at another news conference when she said her office was dropping the case against John Mark Karr because his DNA wasn't a match.

Unanswered questions

At the time, Lacy said, "No one is really cleared of a crime until there is a conviction in court beyond a reasonable doubt."

Denver lawyer Larry Pozner scoffed at apparent turn-around.

"These global statements never make any sense," he said. "In the JonBenet murder case, the Boulder police went out of their way to unfairly tar and feather innocent people. This family deserves an unusual apology."

Experts agree the apology letter is unlikely to backfire on Lacy, who is term-limited.

Grant says he thinks this fact was key in Lacy's decision.

"Certainly the evidence was an impetus, but a more compelling point is that Mary Lacy is going to lose control of this investigation in six months," he said. "She'll be out of office and won't be able to do what her heart tells her to do. I don't know of another prosecutor that would have done it. I can't see myself doing it."

Now, nearly 12 years after JonBenet was killed, the murder remains unsolved.

More DNA testing and new advances in DNA evidence, like the "touch DNA" results that led to Lacy's unusual exoneration of the Ramseys, may help solve the case, the experts said.

But Grant says that's just a start. "I'm not sure that just finding a DNA match is going to solve this case," he said. "There are a lot of unanswered questions.

Even with DNA, you need to have motive, opportunity, all the things necessary to back up the physical evidence."

Fordham University law professor Jim Cohen said a match depends on the killer committing another crime. "They tried to match it using very large databases and were unsuccessful, which means that whoever left that DNA has not likely had his DNA taken by the system," he said.

"Even if they find a person who matches this DNA, it's still not a CSI case," Levenson said. "She's got a long road to go . . . ."

Comments

  • July 10, 2008

    4:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    JB writes:

    Rocky Mountain News writers-

    Will one of you PLEASE ask how it is that the presence of this DNA excludes the Ramsey's? Logically, all it can do is implicate someone else, which does not necessarily EXCLUDE the Ramsey's! There could have been a third party involved...who knows. I have little opinion one way or the other as to their guilt, but EXCLUDING anyone based on this evidence doesn't add up! Please ask the question!

  • July 10, 2008

    4:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Beau writes:

    I can't believe that with unknown DNA found on JonBenet Ramsey that does not match anyone in the Ramsey family, some still cling to the belief that somehow, some way, the Ramseys were guilty in her death.

    A person whom we do not know left his DNA on the little girl he murdered. Someday this cold case will be solved, and some evil man will have his day in the public spotlight, and he will finally be punished. And the one thing we know is that neither John Ramsey or any other member of his family is that evil person.

    That's a start.

  • July 10, 2008

    5:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ObiWan writes:

    If atty Pozner says "these global statements never make sense...." does he apply the same logic to Lacy's actions....how can a global clearing or vindication of the Ramseys make sense when there is still no conviction?

  • July 10, 2008

    5:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    RealLife writes:

    Nothing that this incompetent DA Mary (Keenan) Lacy does surprises me. How does she keep getting re-elected. I went to school in Boulder and love it, but man there are some kooky people up there voting for this woman.

    Her actions in the past have been nothing short of criminal in my opinion. How can we forget the CU non-scandal "scandal". She's a total moron.

  • July 10, 2008

    6:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dirkle writes:

    If the photo of Mary Lacy is in any way indicative of her IQ, I wouldn't let her babysit my kid, let alone prosecute for the DA's office. - LOOK at that ditz!

  • July 10, 2008

    6:01 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Rava writes:

    I truly hope the officials who publicly accused the Ramseys who work or were formerly employed by the Boulder Police Department including that former police detective who wrote a book about the murder and that totally hideous female police officer who was on on Larry King both of whom spread their accusations publicly proving themselves not only fools but the worst kind of human being. There is nothing that is more detrimental to society than an official or officer employed to protect the community who uses that position to accuse someone of a crime without the evidence to back it up. May Patsy and Jon Benet have mercy on their wicked souls. The killer of Jon Benet was not the only person who caused heartache and pain to innocent souls.

  • July 10, 2008

    9:26 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    windbourne writes:

    Not just gutsy, but positively gracious. I only wish that Ft. Collins police and DA would issue an apology back to TIm Masters. But I seriously doubt that any of the 4 who were involved in the coverup of information will say sorry.