JonBenet, again

A major development, but overreach by prosecutor, too

Rocky Mountain News

Published July 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy has a penchant for overreaching and she's done it again.

Her announcement Wednesday that DNA scraped from the long johns of JonBenet Ramsey matches the genetic material of an unknown male found previously on the murdered girl's underpants provides stunning support for Lacy's long-held theory that an intruder committed the crime. Yet the district attorney coupled this revelation with an apology to the Ramsey family and a declaration that they have been cleared and vindicated.

Not only was it imprudent to go so far but Lacy herself said as much during a press conference following the memorable John Mark Karr fiasco. As you may recall, Karr was arrested in Thailand and brought back to the United States as a suspect in the case, only to be released in fairly short order.

The relevant segment of that press conference was played Wednesday on KHOW radio's Caplis & Silverman show after it was retrieved by Todd Shepherd of CompleteColorado.com.

During that press conference, Lacy was asked if it would be "fair to say that any involvement by John or Patsy Ramsey is completely ruled out by your office. Are you committed to an intruder theory of the crime?"

Her answer: "What we are committed to is solving the crime if we possibly can. You know there are these terms out there - 'umbrella of suspicion' - we don't use that. No one is really cleared of a homicide until there's a conviction in court beyond a reasonable doubt. And I don't think you will get any prosecutor, unless they were present with the person at the time of the crime, to clear someone, like in this case, [where] the facts are so strange and obviously the family was in the house at the time."

That was just two years ago, in case you're wondering.

Let's be clear: The DA's persistence in pursuing leads and employing the very latest technology is highly commendable. And she is apparently correct in asserting, as she did in her press release, that "the unexplained third party DNA on the clothing of the victim is very significant and powerful evidence. It is very unlikely that there would be an innocent explanation for DNA found at three different locations on two separate items of clothing worn by the victim at the time of her murder. This is particularly true in this case because the matching DNA profiles were found on genetic material from inside the crotch of the victim's underwear and near the waist on both sides of her long johns, and because concerted efforts that might identify a source, and perhaps an innocent explanation, were unsuccessful."

In other words, the public may be pleasantly surprised someday by the announcement of an arrest for the murder of JonBenet, the result of a DNA match that pops up after the killer commits another crime and is required to provide a genetic sample. This is a huge development in the case and obviously a heavy blow to those who have so confidently (and recklessly) asserted throughout the years that the killer unquestionably was one of the parents.

Yet let's also not forget Lacy's own words of two years ago: "The facts are so strange and obviously the family was in the house at the time." Not only that, remember how the Ramseys dummied up after the crime, rejecting interviews with law enforcement? Why, of course they were considered possible suspects. Lacy needn't apologize because police and prosecutors entertained that thought and failed to clear them earlier. Nor does the apparent existence of a third party absolutely rule out the involvement of others, as remote as it might now appear.

Over the years, we've made no secret of our belief that Lacy is prone to flamboyant excess, from claiming damning knowledge about the University of Colorado athletic program that she clearly didn't possess to engineering the arrest of Karr without having completed the sort of rudimentary probe that would have cleared him and averted the ensuing embarrassment.

Now, at a moment when she can rightly claim a major advance in the most notorious unsolved murder in Boulder in decades, she has sullied the event by showboating once again. It is no coincidence, we might add, that her dubious behavior once again serves the interest not of justice, but of Mary Lacy.

• July 11, 2008

  3:49 a.m.

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  Shadow writes:

  Wow, Mary Lacy is still there. This does not speak well of the citizens of Boulder. She should have been fired long ago. I guess she missed the spotlight of the media and is now trying to recapture another 15 minutes of false fame.

• July 11, 2008

  5:58 a.m.

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  Mike846 writes:

  Boulder deserves to be the butt of all the late night jokes. The population up there, or at least the majority of them, are shallow-thinking, politically correct fools for electing her after Hunter Patrick retired. And then to not recall her after the numerous and egregious violations of common sense and ethics with regard to this case, the "witch hunting" of the CU football team, and failed investigations into several beatings, homicides and rapes up there, well, they deserve the jokes. Rich white people get not only a "pass", but a "Get Out of Jail Free" letter; I didn't see any letters of apology issued to the two young black men they picked up for rape, only to find that their DNA didn't match that found on the supposed "victim" of rape, who had already admitted being drunk, not remembering, etc, etc. What a farce. Mike

• July 11, 2008

  7:55 a.m.

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  sheepherder writes:

  That crime scene was so contaminated the DNA could have come from anyone at the house that night. The bosy was moved, it was covered with a sweatshirt and blanket...who knows. This "new" evidence proves nothing, especially the innocence of John and Patsy. Mary Lacy has proven time and again that she is not qualified for her position.

• July 11, 2008

  8:24 a.m.

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  analytixman writes:

  Mary Lacy will be out of office in 6 months and therefore is doing her last ditch effort to clear her name and the Ramsey's before she has to get a job on her merits, not on a popular vote. Mary needs to clear her name so she can get a job. I cant think of a more incompetent DA in the history of Colorado. The most amazing thing to me is the people of Boulder have not thrown her out for all the bungled CU rapes, John Mark Karr and the continued clown work on this case.

  The new DNA evidence does nothing to change the fact that the ransom note and practice ransom note were found ( with exact amounts of John Ramsey's bonus), the Ramsey family refused interviews with Police and hid behind their lawyers. The new DNA is most likely from someone on the Boulder Police staff, who moved the body.

  This case is a sham and Mary Lacy is not qualified to work a drive through window at a burger joint.

• July 11, 2008

  8:35 a.m.

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  ksells writes:

  If I refused to help the police in solving the death of my child, I would be a suspect. And if later some evidence tended to show I might not be a suspect, I wouldn't deserve an apology. And I believe that this DNA evidence doesn't mean there's a "get out of jail free" card. Who can say that this DNA is proof of who killed the girl? The fact is that the Ramseys contaminated the crime scene and refused to help the police. That's not to say they committed a crime, but it is enough to say no apology is required.

• July 11, 2008

  9:48 a.m.

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  T1anda writes:

  Question...Mary Lacy, why is Alex Midyette still walking the streets of Boulder???

• July 11, 2008

  10:38 a.m.

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  Mtnlover writes:

  The city of Boulder has a long history of accepting poor performance from its law enforcement establishment. When JonBenet was murdered, the incompetent Chief of Police 1.Allowed an even more incompetent Officer to mess up the crime scene, 2. Refused offers of help from expert prosecutors like Bob Grant of Adams County, and 3. Announced his retirement 1 1/2 years in the future. Even if Boulder had to pay his contract, they could have rented him an office in Erie, for example, and gotten somebody competent to solve the crime. Instead, they let him prop his feet up on the desk and the investigation withered. We shouldn't be surprised they allow Mary Lacy to keep her job, too.

• July 11, 2008

  10:49 a.m.

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  RoyalPayne writes:

  It will come as a big surprise if anyone EVER is convicted in this murder. We all know why !

• July 11, 2008

  11:29 a.m.

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  Dixie8 writes:

  In a house the size of the Ramsey's, someone could hide for days. The Ramseys were very sociable. A guest could have stolen writing paper/pen from the house & gone home, written the "kidnap note" in preparation for the crime. Remember the Smart family? Their house was smaller & their child was kidnapped by an outsider. Thank Heaves that ending was much happier. As for the amount of money on the ransom note, anyone who knew one of Ramsey's employees could've heard that information. I worked as a clerk/typist at the Boulder Police Dept. in the early 1980s. The detectives I worked with were determined on every case they were handed. Oftentimes, there was just not enough "hard" evidence for a grand jury to charge someone with the crime. It's true that this crime scene was not pristine & that was a big botch. It's tragic that the family were suspected & I am glad that Mary Lacy apologized, although it's too late for Jon Benet's Mom. However, according to the US Dept. of Justice's 2002 report, 43% of female murder victims were killed by family members. Thus, families get scrutinized more closely than outsiders. I have faith in the justice system. It may appear as a cold case to outsiders but I know this case was never off the desks of the detectives in charge of it.

• July 11, 2008

  11:50 a.m.

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  irisman writes:

  The new evidence that Lacy claims to have doesn't prove anything, and certainly doesn't explain any of the evidence found at the scene, such as the "ransom note" or the lack of footprints in the snow. I don't know what Lacy is up to, but I think this crime may never be officially solved, and may go down in history with other unsolved crimes, like who killed O.J. Simpson's wife, or who killed Lizzie Borden's parents.

• July 11, 2008

  12:48 p.m.

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  nonayerbsns writes:

  Sorry, Lacy, but the umbrella of suspicion still covers the head of that ba$tard father. Sadly, the wife is dead and will never answer to us for her crime. Are we forgetting that there was a practiced note in the trash? Are we forgetting all the other evidence? Is is not possible that they were involved in an attack by an 'intruder' of thier chosing? They (the family) were and are still not telling the truth of what happened to that little girl.

• July 11, 2008

  3:46 p.m.

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  buffsblg writes:

  this is the best take on this I have seen. This is strong evidence and does support the intruder theory, especially as everyone who could have contaminated the clothing has been tested and ruled out. That said, to issue a public exoneration is overreaching and grandiose. The confusion surrounding this case is demonstrated on these boards by the vast number of people who are sure they know what happened and will never be shaken from that belief, and who now fall back on conspiracy theories to avoid any facts they disagree with.

• July 11, 2008

  10:40 p.m.

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  sheepherder writes:

  Agreed Buffs...and the sad part is we will never know the truth.

• July 11, 2008

  10:42 p.m.

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  Frank25 writes:

  I extend my congratulations to DA Mary Lacy for her actions. Tom Kobe may have looked like a television Detective (so cool) but his collection of detectives left a lot to be desired. Female detective (sarcasm) who could look in John Ramsey's eyes and know he did it. Male detective (recently promoted from street patrol). Both of them blew off any normal police procedure. Ramsey's were missing a 6 year old child, and friends gathered to comfort them, and start looking. Was involved with same thing when a new tenant was moving into my house, 4 year old child went missing about 9 AM. Truck driver took off in his moving truck to cruise streets, several of us searched the house, yard, neighboring yards, and on desperate move, I went back into house and found him asleep behind a door in bedroom on floor. Had been missing just over hour at that time, and police had just showed up. BIG RELIEF all the way around. Back to JonBenet. Tom Kobe and Alex Hunter had this case so screwed up, media and gossip mongers got into it, until even Governor Owens made statement I felt was out of line at the time, and even more so now. I know him on first name basis and am sure he feels the same. But where does the hatred of prior posters come from? Why? Any perp caught now will never be tried with this contaminated evidence, and sloppy police work.

• July 11, 2008

  11:29 p.m.

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  sheepherder writes:

  Uh Frank, the kid is usuall yin the house...get off your butt and look next time. Nice exaggeration.

• July 12, 2008

  2:52 p.m.

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  Meggie writes:

  It was very bad police work. I remember it clearly. I lived in Broomfield at the time. Followed the story for quite a while.
  Pathetic. Everyone in that house should be kept under suspicion.

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