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calling for a Grand Jury
#3
Ramseys endorse grand jury investigation
Lawyers' letters lash out at Boulder police
By MATT SEBASTIAN, Camera Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 17, 1998

The parents of JonBenet Ramsey are "eager to assist" a grand jury investigation into their daughter's murder, although the couple's attorneys argue the panel also should examine the Boulder Police Department's handling of the highly publicized case.

"If referral of this case to a grand jury means that this investigation will at last be in the hands of competent and unbiased professionals, we welcome it," John and Patsy Ramsey's attorneys said Monday in a letter to Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter.

But the Ramseys' legal team made it clear the parents of the slain 6-year-old will have nothing to do with the Boulder Police Department.

"We have lost all confidence that the police can be either fair or objective," the attorneys wrote. "No investigation of this extraordinary case would be complete or thorough if it did not also review the conduct of the investigation over the past 15 months."

The letter to Hunter comes just four days after Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby and Cmdr. Mark Beckner, the lead Ramsey investigator, asked the district attorney to convene a grand jury in hopes of solving the case. It is signed by Hal Haddon and three other lawyers representing the couple.

Hunter has yet to decide whether to comply with the police request.

JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in her parents' 15th Street home Dec. 26, 1996.

More than a year later, police have made no arrests and have named no suspects, although Beckner has said the girl's parents remain "under an umbrella of suspicion."

Suzanne Laurion, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said Monday, "We did receive the letter, and we're not going to have a comment."

The Ramseys' attorneys Monday also released a recent letter to Beckner accusing the police department of "incredibly unprofessional conduct."

"Because the investigation is thoroughly flawed, there is little hope of 'solving' the crime unless authorities can 'pin it on the Ramseys,'" the attorneys wrote in their letter to Beckner.

"It is our perception that the investigation is hopelessly compromised not only because of initial police errors but because your department has publicly leaked its reports and the existence of important physical evidence."

Jennifer Bray, Boulder city spokeswoman, said Monday she had been in contact with Beckner, but, "We have no response."

The letters aren't the first time the Ramseys or their lawyers have lashed out at police. John and Patsy resisted formal interviews with police until late last April, lambasting police over negotiations before the interviews took place and insisting on seeing police reports on the case before the interviews.

In recent refusals for second interviews, police said the Ramseys insisted on access to evidence in the case as one of the conditions for a meeting.

In both letters, the Ramsey attorneys berate police for repeated press leaks — especially surrounding negotiations to secure a new interview with Burke Ramsey, JonBenet's 11-year-old brother.

"In a media campaign orchestrated to pressure you into using a grand jury, Cmdr. Beckner and his strategists have consistently used the press to announce interview requests of the Ramseys rather than simply making a request in confidence," the attorneys wrote in their letter to Hunter.

"You have been quoted as saying that a grand jury may be appropriate to secure the Ramseys' cooperation," the attorneys wrote to Hunter. "There has not been a single request from your office for evidence, information or interviews which has not been honored. Now that the investigation has been turned over to objective and competent professionals, the Ramsey family is eager to assist."
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calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 03-20-2017, 02:30 AM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 03-23-2017, 01:23 PM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 05-08-2017, 07:17 PM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 04-20-2019, 01:39 AM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 04-20-2019, 02:06 AM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 04-21-2019, 11:31 PM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 04-21-2019, 11:32 PM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 04-22-2019, 01:08 AM
RE: calling for a Grand Jury - by jameson245 - 02-13-2020, 08:53 PM

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