Ramsey prosecutors defend Karr decision

Trail of lurid claims
Lacy said Karr emerged as a suspect in April after he spent several years exchanging e-mails and 11 telephone calls with a University of Colorado journalism professor who had produced documentaries on the case.

The District Attorney’s office released explicit details of statements Karr had made in those exchanges with professor Michael Tracey, who had alerted authorities. Karr told the professor he accidentally killed JonBenet during sex and tasted her blood after he injured her, prosecutors said.

“Are you asking me why I killed JonBenet? I don’t see it that way,” Karr wrote in a May 22 e-mail. “Her and I were engaging in a romantic and very sexual interaction. It went bad and it was my fault.”

But the claims were lies, prosecutors said. The Denver crime lab conducted DNA tests Friday on a cheek swab taken from Karr and were unable to connect him to the crime.

“This information is critical because ... if Mr. Karr’s account of his sexual involvement with the victim were accurate, it would have been highly likely that his saliva would have been mixed with the blood in the underwear,” Lacy said in court papers.

She also said authorities found no evidence Karr was in Boulder at the time of the slaying. She said Karr’s family provided “strong circumstantial support” for their belief that he was with them in Georgia, celebrating the holidays.

When Karr was arrested in Thailand, Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood pronounced it a vindication for JonBenet’s parents. Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in June.

On Monday, the attorney said: “From day one, John Ramsey publicly stated that he did not want the public or the media to jump to judgment. He did not want the public or the media to engage in speculation, that he wanted the justice system to take its course.”

Nate Karr, John Karr’s brother, said he was elated his brother would not be charged. “We’re just going to be celebrating with family,” he said.

But Scott Robinson, a Denver attorney who has followed the case from the beginning, said Karr may be charged with lying about his role.

“Seems to me there should be some criminal consequences,” he said. “He has cost the taxpayers an enormous amount of money.”

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

Utah police find 2 adults, 2 kids slain at home   Man guilty of in-home indecent exposure Legal fees mount in Madoff liquidation   Search to resume for Vt. woman shot, burned DNA clears man after 35 years in prison U.S. death sentences on the decline U.S. drug cartel crackdown misses the money Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: