-
- JonBenet Ramsey's parents could face
up to six years in prison if they tried to cover up the circumstances of
their daughter's baffling murder, experts said yesterday.
-
- Zuma Press - Defense lawyers who have
been closely following the case said the scenario of Burke, right, as the
killer doesn't ring true
-
- Star magazine reports that John and Patsy
Ramsey are in secret plea negotiations with prosecutors and that their
12-year-old son, Burke, is the prime suspect. Colorado legal eagles told
The Post that because of Burke's age " 9 " when his beauty-queen
sister was strangled in her Boulder home Christmas 1996, he cannot be charged.
-
- "There is absolutely nothing the
criminal-justice system can do if Burke was involved in the homicide,"
said Craig Silverman, former Denver chief deputy district attorney. "A
child under 10 is considered to lack the mental capacity to commit a crime."
-
- His parents, however, would not be off
the hook if they admit they engaged in a coverup. "They would be an
accessory after the fact " not viewed as guilty of the primary crime,
but subject to possible jail time," Denver defense lawyer Scott Robinson
said. Accessory to murder is a Class 4 felony that carries two to six
years in prison in Colorado, the lawyers said.
-
- Denver District Attorney Alex Hunter's
office has denied the Star report, and the Ramseys' lawyer has refused
to return repeated phone calls. Defense lawyers who have been closely following
the case said the scenario of Burke as the killer doesn't ring true.
-
- "JonBenet was not killed by a blow
to the head, she was killed by garrote, and it really seems preposterous
that Burke would have been capable of garroting his sister to death, and
his parents would cover up such an act," Silverman said. "I think
Burke is being set up to be the patsy " excuse the pun."
-
- Robinson also has strong doubts about
Burke's involvement, but said "it's a scenario that fits some of the
facts."
-
- "The ransom note points the finger
at Patsy, but there's no pre-existing evidence of any hostility at all
toward her daughter," he said. "If it were John [who killed
JonBenet], I'm hard-pressed to see a wife covering up for him. It's a
plausible explanation that she's trying to protect her only other child
and winds up being the focus of the investigation."
|
