Attorney for Ramseys
presses case
Defends release of deposition tapes
By Ann Schrader
Denver Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - An attorney for John
and Patsy Ramsey said Monday that he released
tapes of key law-enforcement officials giving
depositions to show the investigation into their
daughter JonBenet's 1996 death is "totally
incomplete."

L. Lin Wood, who appeared on NBC's "Today" show,
repeated his contention that police have ignored
other leads and possible suspects.

"My goal is get a new investigation," Wood told The
Denver Post. "There is no public pressure to
investigate, and as a consequence, no public officials
to push it forward.

"Everyone would like for it to go away, while the
Ramseys are left twisting in the wind and the
murderer of their child is out there," he said.

Wood said he gave NBC the nonconfidential portions
of taped depositions, conducted by former Boulder
District Attorney Alex Hunter, Boulder Police Chief
Mark Beckner and former Detective Steve Thomas.

The depositions were taken in November 2001 as
part of a lawsuit against the Ramseys by former
Boulder reporter Chris Wolf.

The Ramseys named Wolf as a possible suspect in
their book, "Death of Innocence."

Wood said he released the tapes now because a
federal judge in Georgia ruled about a month ago
that they could be made public.

The Ramseys want people to see "the truth about this
investigation, about what was done and what was not
done," Wood said.

The Ramseys also plan to soon release transcripts
from police interrogations in June 1998 and August
2000, he said.

In the tape shown Monday, Thomas admits to "many
mistakes" by the Boulder Police Department and to
discussions with the FBI about how to put public
pressure on noncooperative people.

Beckner is shown saying he has not concluded that
Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet

When a grand jury adjourned without handing up an
indictment, Gov. Bill Owens declined to appoint a
special prosecutor.

In making the announcement, Owens told the
Ramseys to "quit hiding" behind their attorneys and
public relations specialists and help in the
investigation.

"It would certainly be inappropriate for a lawyer to
make those remarks," Hunter said in the taped
deposition. "It would have been better had he not
said those things, in terms of my sense of the
criminal-justice system."

Wood told The Post that "my beef is not with Bill
Owens. I just want investigators to get off their rear
ends, and I don't think they're willing to do so."

In the video clip shown on "Today," "the governor
had no comment, and he still has no comment," press
secretary Dan Hopkins said. "And he especially has
no comment in regard to what Lin Wood would say."

9News contributed to this story.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E955775%257E,00.html

I would also like people to note that Governor Owens had no comment. Like Monica, maybe he has decided he should have kept his mouth shut.