By Pam Regensberg
Boulder Daily Camera

A Boulder County district judge has appointed a Pueblo prosecutor to review a case that alleges criminal libel by news media covering the unsolved slaying of JonBenet Ramsey.

Chief Judge Roxanne Bailin on Friday named Pueblo District Attorney Gus Sandstom to decide whether the criminal libel case, which arose out of an Aug. 3 complaint filed by Fleet and Priscilla White, has enough merit to warrant filing criminal charges.

Boulder First Assistant District Attorney Bill Wise asked Bailin to appoint a special prosecutor because District Attorney Alex Hunter could be a witness.

The case stems from coverage of a California woman who said she was sexually abused in a manner similar to the way JonBenet died. The 38-year-old woman was not named in news accounts.

The woman drew attention because she said she knew John and Patsy Ramsey through the family of Fleet White Jr., a key witness in the homicide investigation.

At the time, Hunter said he found the woman to be "very believable." The following day, Hunter backed off his assessment, saying "opinions about believability are premature before a full investigation is complete."

Sandstrom, who once served as the president of the University of Southern Colorado, a Denver prosecutor and a private attorney, said that in his 20 years in office he has never reviewed a criminal libel case.