A grand jury investigating JonBenet Ramsey’s death found her parents did “unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously” put their daughter into a situation that resulted in her slaying,according to documents released Friday. Those stark words — printed on four pages of grand jury documents from 1999 released by the Boulder County District Court’s office — indicted John Ramsey and his wife, Patsy, on two counts each:
On or between December 25, and December 26, 1996, in Boulder County, Colorado Patricia Paugh Ramsey did unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously permit a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child’s life or health, which resulted in the death of JonBenet Ramsey, a child under the age of sixteen. An identical indictment contained John Ramsey’s name.
Another document, Count VII, alleged that each parent did “render assistance to a person, with intent to hinder, delay and prevent the discovery, detention, apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment of such person for the commission of a crime.”
“The grand jury found probable cause to believe that both of the Ramseys were responsible for their daughter’s death,” Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney in the Denver area, told Yahoo News.
But while the grand jury believed there was probable cause to prosecute the Ramseys, the district attorney at the time disagreed. “Whether it ever means there’s going to be a prosecution, whether it means there’s ever going to be justice for this little girl, I don’t believe it changes anything,” Steinhauser said. But she added that, hypothetically, new evidence could drag the case back into the spotlight.
Lin Wood, John Ramsey’s attorney, was not immediately available for comment, his office said.
