We Have Your Daughter Page 31

  3. I have quotes from people involved in the case saying you were “interfering in the case for publicity to gain national attention.” Do you believe that is accurate? If you believe this is not true, why did you make the statements previously mentioned, criticizing the Ramseys and strongly suggesting their guilt?

  4. In 2008, former Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy issued a document clearing John, Patsy, Burke and other Ramseys of the murder based on new DNA evidence. What is your reaction to that?

  Part of Owens’s response follows. Owens did not answer any of the specific questions, but focused instead on the qualifications of the people on his advisory committee.

  Paula—the statement (below) will be all I have to say on the issue. Best, Bill

  I stand by the statements made as the Governor of Colorado into the tragic murder of JonBenét Ramsey. As Governor, I worked with former Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar to convene a Special Prosecution Task Force to advise me as to whether a special prosecutor should be appointed, as provided by Colorado law, in connection with the criminal investigation into her murder, which was and remains the most high-profile such investigation ever conducted in our state. The members of the Task Force were all designated as Special Attorneys General by Mr. Salazar in order to ensure that their deliberations, and the advice they ultimately gave me collectively and as individual experts, would remain strictly confidential.

  After meeting with the members of the Task Force and being briefed on their findings, I decided not to appoint a Special Prosecutor in this case. While there was a tremendous amount of evidence collected in this case, the difficulty of ultimately achieving a conviction or convictions led me to believe that such an appointment would not be productive.

  CHAPTER 24

  RAMSEY GRAND JURY

  Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter surrounded by media as he walks to the podium to announce his decision on the grand jury and Patsy and John Ramsey. Courtesy photographer Andy Cross (staff credit), the Denver Post, October 19, 1999.

  CHRONOLOGY

  September 1998—Ramsey grand jury begins.

  October 19, 1999—Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter announces his decision on whether he’ll go to trial after the grand jury makes its confidential decision.

  ADDITIONAL PEOPLE IN THIS CHAPTER

  Ramsey grand jury specialist Michael Kane— headed a team of two attorneys and directed the activities of the grand jury.

  Retired Homicide Detective Lou Smit—hired by the Boulder District Attorney’s Office in March 2007 to work on the Ramsey case.

  IN 2012, BOULDER DISTRICT ATTORNEY ALEX HUNTER’S First Assistant District Attorney, Bill Wise, told me the grand jury had voted to indict both Ramseys, but he remained uncertain of the exact charges. Wise had been removed from the case and so was not bound by a secrecy oath. He said he had been told about the decision from someone who had participated in the grand jury process. While all participants involved in the grand jury had taken an oath of secrecy, after several years a few of them talked privately to certain reporters. They said they had voted to return two indictments each, including child abuse resulting in death, against both Ramseys.

  The story broke in January 2013, reviving the fervor about the Ramsey family that would lead to the eventual release of the grand jury indictments.

  The Los Angeles Times was among several media outlets throughout the country to report the information that January. The Times published the story on its web page with an opinion poll that asked “Should the prosecutor have pursued charges against JonBenét Ramsey’s parents?”

  The results of the opinion poll: YES 76 percent; NO 24 percent.1

  The interest in the story remained. So did the bias against John and Patsy Ramsey.

  The indictments from the grand jury were officially released on October 25, 2013 by a Colorado Senior District Court Judge after a lawsuit was filed asking that they be released.

  There is a distinct difference between a grand jury and a criminal trial. In a criminal trial, both the prosecution and the defense present their cases. In a grand jury, only one side is presented: the prosecution. Denver Defense Attorney Craig Silverman says, “A grand jury can be a rubber stamp. It goes wherever the prosecution wants it to. The overused cliché, ‘You can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich’ is accurate.” Those testifying before a grand jury can have an attorney with them, but those attorneys cannot confer with their clients during the proceedings. The prosecutors shape, question and determine who testifies and what direction is taken in interviews, and usually lead grand jurors where they want them to go. The speculation related to the Ramsey case was that the new prosecutors were organizing to indict one or both of the Ramseys based on their efforts to prevent some witnesses from testifying.

  In the fall of 1999, when the indictment was returned and still confidential, Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter had a choice on whether or not to accept the grand jury’s decision.

  Looking out the door from inside the courthouse on October 13, 1999, just minutes before he would make his announcement on whether John or Patsy Ramsey would be charged in their daughter’s murder, Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter was absorbing what lay before him, which he later described to me. He saw at least one hundred reporters and at least as many photographers, backed up by satellite trucks with their massive dishes pointed into the blue sky. He noted an extraordinarily beautiful fall afternoon. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He had already told a disappointed police chief and selected detectives of his decision, and he mused about it once again. Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner was “extremely disappointed we weren’t going to trial against Patsy and John,” Hunter later acknowledged privately.

  Hunter and the three prosecutors on the grand jury had been in lengthy discussions about what to do about the grand jury’s decision. These were the prosecutors Hunter had been ordered to accept by Governor Romer because of their experience. That order had resulted in Hunter having to fire his own two deputy district attorneys on the case. The new prosecutors had been very involved in the reasoning on charges. They and Hunter had decided there wasn’t enough evidence to go to trial and convict Patsy and John Ramsey. As one defense attorney has explained to me, “A person can only be tried and acquitted in criminal court once [i.e., one time] on a case. It’s our system of justice. It’s called double jeopardy. Presumably, without enough evidence against the family, they felt it was a bad decision to move forward.”

  Part of this reasoning may have involved consideration of the possibility that if the Ramseys were indeed guilty, more evidence could some day surface that could lead to a conviction in court. At this point, however, no such evidence existed.

  So Alex and the three attorneys who had led the grand jury opened one of the courthouse doors that afternoon. Reporters surrounded them and asked questions as they began the long walk across the courthouse yard to the makeshift podium and microphone that had been set up for them. Later, Hunter would say he’d always remember the crowds of people waiting for him to speak on that day in October 1999. But most of all, he’d remember the actual walk to the microphones. His three grand jury prosecutors were Lead and Chief Prosecutor Michael Kane, Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and Adams County Chief Deputy District Attorney Bruce Levin.

  Hunter turned to the reporters who had crowded the courthouse parking lot and said, “The Ramsey grand jurors have done their work extraordinarily well, bringing to bear all their legal powers, life experiences and shrewdness.”

  Then he added, “We do not have sufficient evidence to warrant filing charges against anyone who has been investigated at the present time.”

  Some of the grand jurors were working people, some were students and some were not working. They were described as a pyrotechnical worker, an accountant, a retired outdoorswoman, a part-time nutritionist, a one-time county probation office worker, a business manager, a former Naval officer and firearms expert, a woman who work
ed for a non-profit organization, a woman who had a real estate license, a former utility company service technician, a woman who took night classes and a man working on a doctorate in chemical engineering.

  The grand jurors had studied and heard testimony from September 1998 to October 1999 with four months off during that time. They had gone to the Ramsey house and individually reviewed any areas they wished. They listened to the testimony of police detectives, DNA and other scientific experts, handwriting analysts and Ramsey friends and family before coming to their conclusion.

  The day of Hunter’s electrifying announcement, Patsy and John Ramsey were secluded at a close friend’s home in Boulder with two of their attorneys, Bryan Morgan and Pat Burke. Everyone in the room sat transfixed in front of the television, waiting for the news conference to begin, wondering what would happen next. For John and Patsy, their grief for their murdered daughter had become so enmeshed with what they believed was persecution by the Boulder Police Department as well as prosecution by politicians, the media and the public that a powerful collection of emotion threatened to sweep them away. The pending press conference represented a decisive moment when they would learn what their future held as it had been determined by a grand jury. They stared at the television as if their lives hung in the balance, which they, in fact, did.

  “If there was an indictment, I wanted to make sure there was not a mob scene when they turned themselves in,” Morgan said. “I wanted to do that privately, and that’s why I kept them where no one knew where they were.”

  When Hunter made his announcement, Morgan rose from his chair, went outside and wept, releasing at least some of the tension he’d endured through the years of fighting for the Ramseys.

  What struck Morgan, and what he remembers to this day, is that John followed him outside after the televised news conference, touched Morgan’s shoulder as he choked away tears, and said, “Thank you, Bryan.” As Morgan recalls, “It meant a lot.”

  In order to ensure the secrecy of the location of the Ramseys that day, Hal Haddon was not in Boulder with John, Patsy and attorneys Burke and Morgan. While Morgan remained with the Ramseys for most of that day, Burke was in and out of the home where John and Patsy were staying, fully aware the grand jury outcome could go either way. “We were prepared to turn them in, but enter the court house through a different entrance to give them some dignity,” Burke said. “That’s why we were close by or with them.”

  Haddon was in his Denver office, watching the news conference on television. When Hunter made his announcement, Haddon did not smile. He did not gloat. A huge sense of relief swept through his body. He was exhausted and felt deep inside that it wasn’t over for the Ramseys. He couldn’t believe that it was over. He took some time that night to breathe in the lack of indictment. Then he tried to think about what was next. He felt their enemies would not give up. And they didn’t.

  Even though the workings of a grand jury are, by law, confidential and are supposed to remain that way, some secrets leaked out. People saw each other going in to testify and they did not always remain silent. The list of those who testified and what they said is still under confidential seal, but it is known that two of John’s children from his first marriage, John Andrew and Melinda, testified. Regarding his testimony, John Andrew has said, “Grand jury prosecutor Michael Kane and I really butted heads during my testimony.” Burke Ramsey also testified. In the beginning of the grand jury hearings, several police officers testified as well.

  Patsy and John had formally asked in a letter that they be subpoenaed to testify, but the grand jury prosecutors, with whom that decision rested, refused their request. Without subpoenas, the Ramseys were also unable to review their prior interviews and interrogations with the Boulder Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office. Their defense attorneys had said that since their clients were targets for the grand jury, it was too dangerous for them to testify without reviewing their former testimonies. So the Ramseys didn’t testify for two reasons: they were not subpoenaed, and they didn’t have access to former statements they had made to members of the Boulder Police Department and to investigators with the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.

  Susan Stine, a close family friend of the Ramseys, did testify. “It was very clear to me that the prosecutors were out to get the Ramseys,” she said. “That’s how their questioning was shaped. Their questions were filled with facts and evidence that the police and prosecutors should have already known wasn’t accurate.”

  On January 21, 1999, investigator Lou Smit wrote a letter to the grand jury foreperson after he was told he would not be called to testify before the Ramsey grand jury:

  My name is Lou Smit, a retired detective previously assigned to the JonBenét Ramsey case who resigned from the case in September 1998. I was hired by Alex Hunter in March 1997 to assist his office in organizing and analyzing the case materials presented to his office by the Boulder Police Department. During the 19 months spent in Boulder, I worked very closely with D.A.’s Trip DeMuth and Peter Hofstrom. Together we examined all aspects of this case.

  I have been in law enforcement for 32 years, have been involved in over 200 homicide investigations and have worked many high-profile cases in Colorado. I was hired because of my experience and background. I take my work very seriously and truly desire to seek justice not only for JonBenét but her parents as well.

  I resigned because I do not agree with others in authority, that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter. I see evidence in the case of an intruder, and I cannot in good conscience assist in the prosecution of people I believe to be innocent.

  That is why I am writing you this letter. I would respectfully request that I be called to give testimony before the Grand Jury to provide an “intruder” side of the story. Please take the time to consider what I have to say while evaluating the evidence and making such difficult decisions regarding an indictment in this case.

  I have prepared a presentation, which would take about eight hours of the Grand Jury’s time.

  Respectfully submitted,

  Lou Smit

  Retired Detective

  The response to Smit’s letter was brief. Within a month, the principal grand jury prosecutor, Michael Kane, and Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter wrote Smit a letter under grand jury seal, which meant the letter could not be publicly released. That letter, dated February 11, 1999, said that Lou Smit’s request to present his “intruder theory” to the Grand Jury had been denied.

  Hunter and Kane weren’t finished. After they sent the letter to Smit, they then sought a court order to bar Smit’s testimony. Why?

  Hunter has told me he “absolutely will not talk about anything to do with the grand jury and Lou Smit. People might think it’s unreasonable, but that’s just what they’re going to have to think. I won’t talk about it.”

  Kane has also declined to be interviewed about the case.

  Smit persisted in trying to appear before the Ramsey grand jury, challenging Kane and Hunter in court at his own expense. He finally won and succeeded in testifying. Smit wouldn’t talk about his actual testimony because of grand jury secrecy rules, but said he’d “never been treated more terribly” by prosecutors.

  Smit’s experience mirrors that of handwriting analyst Howard Rile, who had been hired by the Ramsey attorneys at the beginning of the case. After his grand jury appearance, he hired an attorney to ask if he could testify again, because he felt the treatment he’d received from the prosecutors of the grand jury had been aggressive and confrontational. His request was refused. Rile had testified that he was very close to eliminating Patsy Ramsey as the writer of the ransom note.

  By the spring of 1999, the grand jurors who had entered the courthouse as strangers to each other walked outside as a group. They appeared relaxed, exchanging small talk and smiles. The media was set up across the street watching, under court order to stay 100 feet away. Reporters peered anxiously at the jurors, looking for any clues, any signs t
hat might telegraph their inclinations. Nothing came back, except perhaps a comfort or agreement among the jurors, which might signal that they were coming to a decision. Only a few reporters noticed.

  The grand jury decision did not ease the pressure against the Ramsey family. District Attorney Hunter “tried to make up for his lack of indictment,” according to one of his advisers. The day after the announcement that the parents would not be indicted, Hunter, his advisers and Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner held another news conference and vowed to carry on the investigation. “We are not going to quit the investigation,” Hunter said, adding that Patsy and John were still suspects.

  Ramsey attorney Hal Haddon had been correct on that long fall afternoon. It was definitely not over. The suspicion of the Ramsey family continued unabated.

  In 2013, John Ramsey commented on the grand jury’s decision, which he had learned when it had been first leaked: “As we prepared for the grand jury results in 1998, we had been warned by our attorneys that the system was broken and even though it wasn’t right, we should expect to be indicted for murder. And so that was what we were prepared for. We never knew other than what was publicly announced about the results of the grand jury. When we subsequently learned that the grand jury indicted us for child abuse because we were in the house and should have protected our child, it was a very deep hurt because nothing could have been further from the truth. I would have given my life in an instant to protect JonBenét and certainly wish I could have done so.”

  Indictments against the Ramseys by the Boulder Grand Jury. Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter did not do as the grand jury recommended. He did not charge/indict the parents.