Disagreements between police, DA are common, lawyers say

By Lisa Levitt Ryckman
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

JonBenet Ramsey's killer might someday thank Boulder Police Detective Steve Thomas for his stinging resignation letter, defense lawyers said Friday.

"You could always throw (Thomas) on the witness stand and let him talk about how screwed up the investigation was," said lawyer F. Lee Bailey, in Denver for the annual convention of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "That's what happened in the Simpson case."

Bailey, who worked on O.J. Simpson's defense team, doesn't think John or Patsy Ramsey had anything to do with the death of their daughter. And he thinks District Attorney Alex Hunter has handled the case correctly.

"Everybody's been pressuring this district attorney to indict the wrong person," Bailey said. "It's amazing he's been strong enough to resist that. Now, if they ever get the real killer up there, he may get a pass."

Denver defense lawyer David Kaplan said Thomas' letter further politicizes a controversial case that needs to be decided on evidence, not emotion.

"The Ramseys should not be charged because there's a fight between the police and the district attorney's office," Kaplan said. "They shouldn't be charged because the district attorney has to respond to criticism.

"And they shouldn't be charged because Gov. Romer is sticking his nose in somebody else's territory just because a detective wrote a letter."

The Ramseys insist they are innocent in the Dec. 26, 1996, death of their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, whose battered body was found in the basement of the family's Boulder home.

Although the Thomas letter hints at evidence dismissed, uncollected or untested, innocent people pursued and a lack of prosecutorial support, he never bolsters those claims with specific examples, Kaplan said.

"It's all done in innuendo and half-revelations and suggestions of impropriety," he said. "It's hard to respond to a letter that doesn't really tell you specifically what evidence was not properly analyzed, what leads not pursued, what warrants not issued."

Craig Silverman, a former deputy Denver district attorney who now works as a defense lawyer, said the vagueness is why it causes so much trouble.

"The prosecutors can't respond to this,' he said. "It's a nightmare. It devastates the case."

Lawyers point out that in any murder case, the police have the responsibility to investigate, and the district attorney's office decides whether to charge. Disagreements and frustration on the part of the police over the DA's decision are common.

"I think the letter is garbage, because it's not substantive," Kaplan said. "It doesn't tell anybody, even the public, what the problem is. It sounds like somebody griping about the investigation, but I'm not sure he has anybody to blame but himself.

Silverman sees it differently.

"Say what you will about this detective," Silverman said, "but he put his money where his mouth is. He is accusing the Boulder DA of being scared."

August 8, 1998