02-15-2019, 01:43 AM
21 Q. Prior to his coming up the stairs holding
22 the body of JonBenet, did you have any suspicions that
23 he might have been involved in the murder of JonBenet
24 as opposed to the fact that it appeared to be a
25 kidnapping at that time?
Page 119
________________________________________
1 A. No.
2 Q. When you saw him coming up with the body of
3 JonBenet, did you then go back to your recollections of
4 his demeanor earlier that morning and say these things
5 are starting to fit together as his being the murderer?
6 A. I can only tell you that at that point,
7 everything made sense that didn't make sense before.
8 Q. What was it about seeing him carry the body
9 that seemed to make sense to you that he was the
10 murderer?
11 A. It was an accumulation of -
12 Q. I can't understand you. You say you see
13 him carrying the body and now it makes sense. I just
14 can't understand where you're coming from there. If
15 you can, just explain what makes sense and why
16 specifically.
17 A. No forced entry; no tracks; no breaking in
18 the house; no sounds heard during the night; he's the
19 last one to see her; behaviors by him; between he and
20 his wife; by others; the ransom note in and of itself.
21 I can't list the whole, all of the information.
22 Q. The fact that he was able to go right down
23 in the basement and find the body and bring her up, is
24 that a part of it?
25 A. How he carried her was part of it.
Page 120
________________________________________
1 Q. And describe that.
2 A. Her head above his head, so he didn't see
3 her head, her face.
4 Q. Can you demonstrate how he was holding her?
5 A. (indicating)
6 Q. So you kind of have your hands together out
7 in front of you, and he kind of had her in a bear hug,
8 is that it, for a lack of any better description? If
9 you were going to go up and hug somebody, that's the
10 way he had his arms around her?
11 A. No.
12 Q. How would you describe - I'm trying to
13 describe for the record.
14 A. Arms - he had his arms around her upper
15 legs. He carried her kind of up and away from his
16 body.
17 Q. Just so I can get a proper positioning of
18 her body vis-a-vis his, would her navel have been
19 around his face area the way he was carrying her?
20 A. I'm more focused on her head.
21 Q. How far above his head was her head?
22 A. Above.
23 Q. How far above?
24 A. Above.
25 Q. Were her shoulders above his head?
Page 121
________________________________________
1 A. I don't remember.
2 Q. And so I understood from your report he was
3 carrying her in a fashion where she was facing him.
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. And to you, that was most unusual?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And tell me why.
8 A. It was unusual that she was - it was clear
9 she was dead. It was unusual that, for me, for a
10 father to carry his child that way.
11 Q. How would you have expected him to be
12 carrying his child under those circumstances?
13 A. I don't know.
14 Q. You don't know other than it shouldn't have
15 been that way?
16 A. I'm not saying it should or shouldn't have
17 been. I'm just saying it was unusual.
18 Q. You had concern about your personal safety
19 as it related to John Ramsey that day?
20 A. The 26th?
21 Q. Yes.
22 A. After JonBenet came up the stairs, yes.
23 Q. And your concern was that you thought John
24 Ramsey had the potential to cause you personal harm?
25 A. I didn't know what John Ramsey's reaction
Page 122
________________________________________
1 or behavior would be.
2 MR. HALABY: Just informing you Judge
3 Bolin is not available until after 2:00 p.m. today. He
4 is in Colorado Springs doing a criminal docket this
5 morning. This is as related by his secretary, Miss
6 Freitag. So I guess we'll have to bring that up
7 another day.
8 MR. JONES: All right.
9 Q. (BY MR. HALABY) But you have been quoted,
10 have you not, as saying you feared for your safety when
11 you were in the presence of John Ramsey at that time?
12 A. I may have been quoted, but I didn't say
13 that.
14 Q. And you didn't feel that?
15 A. That's not what I said.
16 Q. Well, did you feel that?
17 A. I didn't know what John Ramsey was going to
18 do.
19 Q. And you thought because you didn't know,
20 there was a potential he could harm you?
21 A. I thought more about the other people.
22 Q. Well, didn't you count the rounds in your
23 weapon?
24 A. I did.
25 Q. And you'd counted the rounds in your weapon
Page 123
________________________________________
1 because you wanted to know whether or not you had
2 enough ammunition to defend yourself if you had to in
3 the Ramsey home?
4 A. Are you telling me what I thought?
5 Q. I'm asking you if that's what you thought.
6 A. Oh, it was an officer's safety thought.
7 Q. So an officer's safety thought. An officer
8 counts his rounds to make sure there is enough
9 ammunition to defend one's self if necessary?
10 A. Sure.
11 Q. So the natural import of that is you were
12 prepared to use your weapon on John Ramsey if your
13 suspicions became true that he'd become a threat to
14 you; is that correct?
15 A. What was that again?
16 Q. You wanted - you were prepared to use your
17 weapon in case your suspicions became fact and he
18 became a threat to you; is that correct?
19 A. I was prepared to defend the rest of the
20 people in that home.
21 Q. With the use of your weapon?
22 A. If need be.
23 Q. Okay. So this concern was not only for
24 your personal safety but the safety of others in that
25 house?
Page 124
________________________________________
1 A. The concern was first and foremost for
2 everyone in the house.
3 Q. So you didn't feel personally threatened by
4 John Ramsey; is that correct?
5 A. I felt concerned for everyone's safety,
6 including mine.
7 Q. So did you - well, I'm trying to get a
8 direct answer. My simple question just deals with you,
9 not everybody else. As to you, you felt concerned for
10 your personal safety as it related to John Ramsey,
11 correct?
12 A. I felt there was a threat to my -
13 Q. From John Ramsey?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. To your personal safety?
16 A. At that moment, yes.
17 Q. As he was coming up the stairs?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Which moment?
20 A. As we were both bending over the body and
21 he was closest to my gun.
22 Q. What, under those circumstances, would
23 cause you to believe that he was a threat to your
24 personal safety, John Ramsey was a threat to your
25 personal safety?
Page 125
________________________________________
1 A. I was alone in the house with a man who,
2 whose daughter was murdered. I believed it was him,
3 and I didn't know how he was going to react.
4 Q. Did what you perceived to be the look in
5 his eyes have anything to do with this?
6 A. What are you referring to?
7 Q. I'm just asking you a question. You
8 observed his eyes, did you not?
9 A. Uh-huh.
10 Q. Was there anything in the look in his eyes
11 that added to this sense of threat from him?
12 A. At one point, yes.
13 Q. And what was that?
14 A. At the same time we were bending over both
15 on the floor next to JonBenet.
16 Q. How close was your face to his at that
17 point?
18 A. Inches.
19 Q. Did he ever say anything to you that
20 appeared to be consistent with a threat to your safety?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Did he make any overt act that you
23 translated as being a threat to your safety?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Did you have this concern for your personal
Page 126
________________________________________
1 safety regarding John's conduct after that moment?
2 A. I know that the threat was immediate.
3 Q. But did it last throughout the day?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Was it just for the moment?
6 A. It was in that moment.
7 Q. And it only lasted for that moment; is that
8 correct?
9 A. I can tell you that I remember that moment
10 clearly.
11 Q. And you can't remember it continuing after
12 that moment; is that correct?
13 A. The immediate threat had passed.
14 Q. All right. So can you recall whether or not
15 you felt in the least bit threatened by John Ramsey
16 after that moment?
17 A. That day?
18 Q. Yes.
19 A. Indirectly, yes.
20 Q. In what way?
21 A. Eller.
22 Q. Tell me about that.
23 A. Eller had said that I was a key witness in
24 the case and I knew information no one else knew and I
25 had to be careful and take a different route home every
Page 127
________________________________________
1 day, people would be, I should be extra careful and
2 people would be willing to kill me.
3 Q. When did he tell you that?
4 A. Well, within the first week.
5 Q. But that day, did you have any further
6 concern about your personal safety as it related to
7 John Ramsey after that moment had passed?
8 A. After people showed up, no. After other
9 cops showed up, no.
10 Q. How much time elapsed between the time of
11 that moment and when other cops showed up?
12 A. Twenty, 25 minutes.
13 Q. What means did you take to protect yourself
14 from John Ramsey during that 20 to 25 minutes?
15 A. I took command of the scene, the air of
16 authority.
17 Q. Did you ever pull your weapon?
18 A. No.
22 the body of JonBenet, did you have any suspicions that
23 he might have been involved in the murder of JonBenet
24 as opposed to the fact that it appeared to be a
25 kidnapping at that time?
Page 119
________________________________________
1 A. No.
2 Q. When you saw him coming up with the body of
3 JonBenet, did you then go back to your recollections of
4 his demeanor earlier that morning and say these things
5 are starting to fit together as his being the murderer?
6 A. I can only tell you that at that point,
7 everything made sense that didn't make sense before.
8 Q. What was it about seeing him carry the body
9 that seemed to make sense to you that he was the
10 murderer?
11 A. It was an accumulation of -
12 Q. I can't understand you. You say you see
13 him carrying the body and now it makes sense. I just
14 can't understand where you're coming from there. If
15 you can, just explain what makes sense and why
16 specifically.
17 A. No forced entry; no tracks; no breaking in
18 the house; no sounds heard during the night; he's the
19 last one to see her; behaviors by him; between he and
20 his wife; by others; the ransom note in and of itself.
21 I can't list the whole, all of the information.
22 Q. The fact that he was able to go right down
23 in the basement and find the body and bring her up, is
24 that a part of it?
25 A. How he carried her was part of it.
Page 120
________________________________________
1 Q. And describe that.
2 A. Her head above his head, so he didn't see
3 her head, her face.
4 Q. Can you demonstrate how he was holding her?
5 A. (indicating)
6 Q. So you kind of have your hands together out
7 in front of you, and he kind of had her in a bear hug,
8 is that it, for a lack of any better description? If
9 you were going to go up and hug somebody, that's the
10 way he had his arms around her?
11 A. No.
12 Q. How would you describe - I'm trying to
13 describe for the record.
14 A. Arms - he had his arms around her upper
15 legs. He carried her kind of up and away from his
16 body.
17 Q. Just so I can get a proper positioning of
18 her body vis-a-vis his, would her navel have been
19 around his face area the way he was carrying her?
20 A. I'm more focused on her head.
21 Q. How far above his head was her head?
22 A. Above.
23 Q. How far above?
24 A. Above.
25 Q. Were her shoulders above his head?
Page 121
________________________________________
1 A. I don't remember.
2 Q. And so I understood from your report he was
3 carrying her in a fashion where she was facing him.
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. And to you, that was most unusual?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And tell me why.
8 A. It was unusual that she was - it was clear
9 she was dead. It was unusual that, for me, for a
10 father to carry his child that way.
11 Q. How would you have expected him to be
12 carrying his child under those circumstances?
13 A. I don't know.
14 Q. You don't know other than it shouldn't have
15 been that way?
16 A. I'm not saying it should or shouldn't have
17 been. I'm just saying it was unusual.
18 Q. You had concern about your personal safety
19 as it related to John Ramsey that day?
20 A. The 26th?
21 Q. Yes.
22 A. After JonBenet came up the stairs, yes.
23 Q. And your concern was that you thought John
24 Ramsey had the potential to cause you personal harm?
25 A. I didn't know what John Ramsey's reaction
Page 122
________________________________________
1 or behavior would be.
2 MR. HALABY: Just informing you Judge
3 Bolin is not available until after 2:00 p.m. today. He
4 is in Colorado Springs doing a criminal docket this
5 morning. This is as related by his secretary, Miss
6 Freitag. So I guess we'll have to bring that up
7 another day.
8 MR. JONES: All right.
9 Q. (BY MR. HALABY) But you have been quoted,
10 have you not, as saying you feared for your safety when
11 you were in the presence of John Ramsey at that time?
12 A. I may have been quoted, but I didn't say
13 that.
14 Q. And you didn't feel that?
15 A. That's not what I said.
16 Q. Well, did you feel that?
17 A. I didn't know what John Ramsey was going to
18 do.
19 Q. And you thought because you didn't know,
20 there was a potential he could harm you?
21 A. I thought more about the other people.
22 Q. Well, didn't you count the rounds in your
23 weapon?
24 A. I did.
25 Q. And you'd counted the rounds in your weapon
Page 123
________________________________________
1 because you wanted to know whether or not you had
2 enough ammunition to defend yourself if you had to in
3 the Ramsey home?
4 A. Are you telling me what I thought?
5 Q. I'm asking you if that's what you thought.
6 A. Oh, it was an officer's safety thought.
7 Q. So an officer's safety thought. An officer
8 counts his rounds to make sure there is enough
9 ammunition to defend one's self if necessary?
10 A. Sure.
11 Q. So the natural import of that is you were
12 prepared to use your weapon on John Ramsey if your
13 suspicions became true that he'd become a threat to
14 you; is that correct?
15 A. What was that again?
16 Q. You wanted - you were prepared to use your
17 weapon in case your suspicions became fact and he
18 became a threat to you; is that correct?
19 A. I was prepared to defend the rest of the
20 people in that home.
21 Q. With the use of your weapon?
22 A. If need be.
23 Q. Okay. So this concern was not only for
24 your personal safety but the safety of others in that
25 house?
Page 124
________________________________________
1 A. The concern was first and foremost for
2 everyone in the house.
3 Q. So you didn't feel personally threatened by
4 John Ramsey; is that correct?
5 A. I felt concerned for everyone's safety,
6 including mine.
7 Q. So did you - well, I'm trying to get a
8 direct answer. My simple question just deals with you,
9 not everybody else. As to you, you felt concerned for
10 your personal safety as it related to John Ramsey,
11 correct?
12 A. I felt there was a threat to my -
13 Q. From John Ramsey?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. To your personal safety?
16 A. At that moment, yes.
17 Q. As he was coming up the stairs?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Which moment?
20 A. As we were both bending over the body and
21 he was closest to my gun.
22 Q. What, under those circumstances, would
23 cause you to believe that he was a threat to your
24 personal safety, John Ramsey was a threat to your
25 personal safety?
Page 125
________________________________________
1 A. I was alone in the house with a man who,
2 whose daughter was murdered. I believed it was him,
3 and I didn't know how he was going to react.
4 Q. Did what you perceived to be the look in
5 his eyes have anything to do with this?
6 A. What are you referring to?
7 Q. I'm just asking you a question. You
8 observed his eyes, did you not?
9 A. Uh-huh.
10 Q. Was there anything in the look in his eyes
11 that added to this sense of threat from him?
12 A. At one point, yes.
13 Q. And what was that?
14 A. At the same time we were bending over both
15 on the floor next to JonBenet.
16 Q. How close was your face to his at that
17 point?
18 A. Inches.
19 Q. Did he ever say anything to you that
20 appeared to be consistent with a threat to your safety?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Did he make any overt act that you
23 translated as being a threat to your safety?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Did you have this concern for your personal
Page 126
________________________________________
1 safety regarding John's conduct after that moment?
2 A. I know that the threat was immediate.
3 Q. But did it last throughout the day?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Was it just for the moment?
6 A. It was in that moment.
7 Q. And it only lasted for that moment; is that
8 correct?
9 A. I can tell you that I remember that moment
10 clearly.
11 Q. And you can't remember it continuing after
12 that moment; is that correct?
13 A. The immediate threat had passed.
14 Q. All right. So can you recall whether or not
15 you felt in the least bit threatened by John Ramsey
16 after that moment?
17 A. That day?
18 Q. Yes.
19 A. Indirectly, yes.
20 Q. In what way?
21 A. Eller.
22 Q. Tell me about that.
23 A. Eller had said that I was a key witness in
24 the case and I knew information no one else knew and I
25 had to be careful and take a different route home every
Page 127
________________________________________
1 day, people would be, I should be extra careful and
2 people would be willing to kill me.
3 Q. When did he tell you that?
4 A. Well, within the first week.
5 Q. But that day, did you have any further
6 concern about your personal safety as it related to
7 John Ramsey after that moment had passed?
8 A. After people showed up, no. After other
9 cops showed up, no.
10 Q. How much time elapsed between the time of
11 that moment and when other cops showed up?
12 A. Twenty, 25 minutes.
13 Q. What means did you take to protect yourself
14 from John Ramsey during that 20 to 25 minutes?
15 A. I took command of the scene, the air of
16 authority.
17 Q. Did you ever pull your weapon?
18 A. No.