Posted on 08/17/2006 1:41:53 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Legal analyst: Break in Ramsey case could be hoax
DENVER (KUSA) - 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson believes there are still too many questions about the suspect, John Mark Karr, to feel confident about conviction.
“In this particular case when you have an uncorroborated confession, I think it’s good to be cynical and to be skeptical,” Robinson said. “The suspect seems to be ducking questions about his connection to the Ramsey family… how the little girl came to be in the basement with him in the first place.”
Robinson believes one thing is clear, however. This is the biggest development in the case so far.
“This is either the break that we have all been waiting for, or the biggest hoax that’s ever been perpetrated in the JonBenet Ramsey case, a case that has had its share of wacky people involved in it.”
However, DNA evidence could make this an open and shut case in a very short period of time.
“If they can tie [Karr] to the Ramsey home, or to any of the physical evidence at the scene… the case is pretty much done and over,” Robinson said.
“These days you can get a presumptive DNA test done in a day if you have good tissue and certainly a definitive result in a week. So we will know pretty soon if there is a DNA match,” Robinson explained after being asked how long it might take to get this evidence evaluated.
The problem Robinson is concerned with is what happens if the DNA evidence is inconclusive.
“His father says this is a young man who became obsessed with the case and wrote about it for a college paper. That sets the stage for a potential defense that [Karr] didn’t commit the crime, he’s just obsessed with it.”
Will the various issues with compromised evidence and crime scene have a major impact on the outcome of the case? Robinson believes it may help the prosecution as much as it could help the defense.
“That’s a sword that cuts both ways. For those advocating his guilt, perhaps that’s why his DNA was not found at the scene, because the scene was hopelessly compromised in the first few moments of the investigation.”
When asked if he believed the day of an arrest would ever arrive, he responded with conviction.
“Never! Ever! It’s an extraordinary development,” Robinson said. “What we are looking at here is either: the biggest break ever in the JonBenet Ramsey case, or the biggest hoax since the young girl’s body was found in the basement.”
From our sister station KUSA-TV in Denver, All Rights Reserved
Or he got caught and is now playing the crazy card to avoid the death penalty.
Karr's ex-wife thinks he is creepy. She was interviewed by a San Jose paper earlier. She has no reason, on the surface, to lie. And yet she claims he was in Alabama with her for Christmas when the murder occurred. His presence in Alabama can easily be corroborated, one way or the other.
The evidence in the case (tainted by police mishandling):
-DNA found under JonBenet's fingernails,
-The cord found around her neck and the duct tape across her mouth,
-A pubic hair found on her blanket,
-The ransom note,
-The stun gun that might have been used to subdue her,
-A palm print found on the cellar door,
-A footprint of a Hi-Tec hiking boot found near her body.
If the DNA or palm print matches, this guy's toast.... If not, we have another case like the Duke Rugby Scandal underway where the DA is out of touch.
I'll say. Especially the ransom note in Patsy's handwriting.
Guilty or not..he is still creepy.
That's funny, I figured they'd just blame it on Bush.
Yup.
susie
No, really here's the deal. He is like Alison Dubois on Medium, so when he says he was there, he really just watched it in his mind, and...well....never mind....
This case has been so weird from the get go.
susie
Actually, I thought they only said they could not exclude Patsy as the writer of the note, not that she for sure wrote it.
But then I don't know much about handwriting analysis.
susie
Actually, false confessions in heavily publicized murder cases are quite common. The world is filled with cranks and people who are three bricks short of a load.
I think he just wanted to get back to the USA & not end up in a jail there.
Ping to my 31. He was NOT in trouble in Thailand.
You could be right...it's been so many years. But I do recall quite of bit of talking head yakking about this point at the time.
I believe I heard that he was about to begin a job teaching a second grade class in Thailand.
I do too, but it was mentioned on the news yesterday (that she couldn't be excluded, not that they were sure she wrote it). That's the only reason I knew that. (or, perhaps it's not true anyway--this case has more twists and turns!)
susie
One book I read said that Patsy could write with her left hand, a fact known to those close to her, and to her old friends from her younger days, but not to the police so they never asked her to submit a left-handed sample.
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