Don't Just Blame Boulder Prosecutors

Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen Says We All Had A Hand In The JonBenet Fiasco

(CBS)  Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

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Are you surprised the case against John Mark Karr fell apart? Of course you aren't. You would have been more surprised had it stayed together — had it been conclusively proven by DNA evidence or otherwise that Karr really was the little girl's killer. Because you knew even before some of the major players said so Monday that the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation always ends up being a black hole of unmet expectations, great disappointments, baffling inconsistencies, official incompetence, and unimaginable creeps.

Karr and his Boulder pursuers are only the latest in a long and ever-growing string of sorry or sleazy people whose lives and careers, intentionally or otherwise, have been made worse by their involvement in this murder mystery. Call it a curse. Call it bad karma. Call it whatever you will. No one gets off the island alive. The case attracts false hopes the way a country dog attracts fleas. The investigation wins only for its ability to lose spectacularly, as it did here with its attempt to see if Karr ever had truly acted on his sick obsessions.

In the wake of Monday's pre-case collapse of the People v. Karr, there is plenty of blame to go around and not all of it ought to be aimed at Boulder investigators and prosecutors. Despite his defense attorney's silly protestations to the contrary, Karr deserves most of the blame for the 12 roller-coaster days of intrigue and doubt that we have just endured. He fueled the flames of suspicion even as he was undercutting his self-professed ties to the murder. He traded straight-up a potential lifetime of illegitimate sexual prey for a few moments of high visibility in a world gone mad. He loved JonBenet so much, so he says, that he thinks he killed her or thinks it was cute and clever to make people falsely believe it was so.

His life now is worse, much worse, than it was before and that alone ought to give solace to the hundreds of millions of people who believe he is guilty of something more than being a creep. He may think the fame is worth it now — hey, it got him a free one-way ticket out of Thailand and brewing legal trouble there. But wait until his California trial gets closer. Wait until the nation's child-porn investigators turn their sights upon him. Ten will barely get you one that he will be suffering, in prison or elsewhere, long after most people have forgotten his name.

The media, too, deserve their measure of shame for the endless hype and the overwrought speculation that marked this latest chapter in the Ramsey story. It was the media that took the tinder spark and generated the conflagration we have just witnessed. We were warned by Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy that the investigation was just closer to its beginning than its start but we sure didn't listen, did we? It was the media that created the highest of expectations and now is ready to crucify prosecutors for not meeting them. It was the media that took a 10-year-old investigation and decided that it would be and could be and most importantly should have been resolved in less than 10 days or maybe even 10 hours.

And then there are the good public officials in Boulder, Colo., who probably wish today that they had never heard of Thai Airlines, or grilled shrimp, or John Karr. Do yourself a favor. Read the People's Motion To Quash Arrest Warrant filed Monday afternoon by prosecutors as they waved bye-bye to their case against Karr. It represents the most comprehensive summary yet of why law enforcement officials acted the way they did when they did in bringing Karr in from the cold when they did. It doesn't answer all the questions reasonable people will have about the way the investigation was handled. But it doesn't make police and prosecutors look like idiots, either.

Colorado's law enforcement community, and Boulder officials, made two critical mistakes during this episode, neither of which would have changed the outcome here — no DNA linking Karr to Ramsey is the sine qua non of this story — but both of which would have dramatically changed public expectations before Karr was let off the hook in Colorado and changed public perceptions now that the case is over before it started. In other words, Karr would not have been charged even if these mistakes had not been made. But without these mistakes we would be leaving his chapter in this story with a much better taste in our mouths.

[stinkbug_47]

John Mark Karr is a sick person.When a person confess to a murder esp: a child take them at their word and just take them on to the death chamber that would teach people to be careful in wanting media attention if they later found innoncent.I am a beleaver if a person is found guilty in murder esp: a child straight to the death chamber.

[flolake]

District Attorney Mary Lacy managed to put the world at ease with a stellar explanation of the dismissal. After seeing Mrs. Lacy's eloquent explanation and knowing that this suspect's strange statements HAD to be investigated, I do believe this is what is meant by a fast track. The D.A. was darned if she didn't investigate and by some; darned if she did. I'd imagine we'll never know how much the press collectively spent on such an implausible suspect's every move. And to think that some would call many facets of this coverage "journalism". My adjective for the press' fixation on Karr: Bull.

[sharkzone1]

Did everybody miss the fact that he was under arrest and being held in Bangkok for different charges? Seems like a good reason to confess to a crime that would get him extradited to the US.

[abigail4476]

Um, yeah...did someone say the MEDIA was to blame for the hype, and now wants to crucify the prosecutors for not fulfilling their lust for flashy headlines? Is that what I thought you said?

Okay, I agree.

[foobarbaz-2009]

I think when they get him back to CA they should check him for a fit against the Nicole Simpson / Ron Goldman glove.

[foobarbaz-2009]

I think when they get him back to CA they should check him for a fit against the Nicole Simpson / Ron Goldman glove.

[getcentered]

This story is a nice example of how distracted one can get from the stories that really matter. I think everyone BUT the public is to blame for this well timed piece of "sensational news", because since when does the public tell the media "what's fit to print".

On T.V. and radio and print news we are told what is truth. Get on the internet where one can SEEK the news he or she belives is relevant.

Thanks to CBS News for this amazing example of how the internet can allow people to EXCHANGE ideas in a public forum.

[mr_magwich]

It seems the only justification for her readiness to act on essentially no credible evidence in her own case the DA can come up with is that she believes she was protecting potential victims by detaining Karr. In the end, her gamble will only result in his removal from society for one year at the most. After that, he will be released (possibly to offend?)into our society when he could have remained abroad.

[bfroggy-2009]

"12 roller-coaster days of intrigue and doubt that we have just endured." Haha I couldnt have cared less. The only thing about this story which was remotely interesting was the Media's morbid fascination with it and the disconnect where they thought that this was A) News or B) What we want to hear about.

QUIT TALKING ABOUT THIS CASE ALTOGETHER NOW

[stellaone23]

"thus end this unfathomable fascination so many of YOU have with this story." I find it HILARIOUS that Andrew Cohen could type the word "you" in this article. We who don't live in Boulder would NEVER have heard of JonBenet Ramsey if it were not for the media and Hollywood cramming this story down our collective throats. For goodness sake, Entertainment Tonight has covered this story ad nauseum as though this story were somehow entertainment news. I don't recall making one request for more information or another article or television special about JonBenet. Stories get ratings, and articles are read because they are there. Who puts them there, the MEDIA. So, I would think it was THE MEDIA that has the "unfathomable fascination" with this case. Someone in this investigation sneezes, and you ALL trot out your beauty pageant videos and far to grown up looking still photos of this poor little girl. Stop showing it, and watch the fascination go away. Stella Presley, Memphis, TN