Attorneys move to block release of deposition

By Pam Regensberg
Camera Staff Writer

Attorneys for a former Boulder detective involved in the JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation moved
Tuesday to block his deposition in a related case from becoming public.
An attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey promised to fight Steve Thomas' assertion that the deposition,
conducted Sept. 21 in Denver, is confidential.
L. Lin Wood, based in Atlanta, also said Tuesday that depositions of high-ranking officials, including Police
Chief Mark Beckner and former District Attorney Alex Hunter, involved in the nearly 5-year-old homicide are
to come.
The deposition is part of a lawsuit filed by former Boulder County journalist Chris Wolf against the
Ramseys. In their book about the 1996 murder of their daughter, John and Patsy Ramsey named Wolf and
a former housekeeper, Linda Hoffman-Pugh, as suspects in the case.
Wood termed Thomas' attempt at keeping the deposition private the "height of hypocrisy" and something
the federal court in Georgia will not tolerate.
"This is a man who has written a book accusing my clients of murder," Wood said. "Steve Thomas does
not want the public to know the truth. When truth comes out, the people who were attacking the Ramseys
want to run from the truth."
Wood said his clients want everything put on the table and the murder file made public.
In that vein, Wood has subpoenaed Thomas' files related to the investigation, including some Boulder
police reports related to the murder case.
Thomas was out of the state and could not be reached for comment. His attorney in Atlanta, Sean R.
Smith, did not return a telephone call to the Daily Camera.
Thomas was one of several investigators on the Ramsey case. The 6-year-old was found beaten and
strangled in the basement of her family's home Dec. 26, 1996. No one has been charged with the crime.
Thomas, who resigned from the Boulder Police Department in 1998, wrote a book about the investigation,
alleging that Patsy Ramsey killed her daughter. The Ramseys filed a libel lawsuit against Thomas in
March.
In a one-page fax to Wood's office on Tuesday, Thomas' attorneys in Los Angeles said their client's
deposition is confidential based on sections of the confidentiality order entered by U.S. District Court
Judge Julie E. Carnes in Atlanta.
"It is my clear belief that when the public learns about his testimony, they will realize Steve Thomas ...
would have been fired in 1997, probably prosecuted, without question disgraced and would not have been in
a position to write a book and make hundreds of thousand of dollars," Wood said.
Contact Pam Regensberg at (303) 473-1329 or regensbergp@thedailycamera.com.
October 17, 2001

http://www.thedailycamera.com/extra/ramsey/2001/17lram.html

And I am absolutely certain that the BPD thinks so. The moment the BPD hears of a crime like this they start off the report with the caption: Report of crime unrleated to JBR murder.

College girls, Rape as primary motive, entry on warm night, ... several years since JBR murder.
yeah..unrelated.

But the BPD publicity machine sure works in that "instant on" mode.

Aside from that, it proves that people enter houses with stun guns and harm people in their beds - for no apparent reason. Good thing the woman wasn't serious injured or killed.

But the point is that it is not impossible for an intruder to enter a house through a window and a stun gun is NOT unheard of as a weapon for an intruder.

If the DNA matched, I wonder if the BPD would tell us.

(I don't think so. I don't think they would do anything to help clear the Ramseys.)

Let's read the depo for ourselves and decide.
If the Ramseys brought this suit to expose the truth about Thomas and his lies, 'winning' comes down to more than just cashing a check from the publisher. Winning is also showing the public how Thomas purposely misled the public and deliberately distorted the truth to push his idiotic theory and make money off and unsolved murder case. He had no right to do what he did, and he should be exposed.

I hope they add a Thomas suit chapter to their book in future editions, too.

I've always felt that a major problem with Thomas' book was his pooh-poohing the idea that an intruder entered the Ramsey home, yet going on to conclude that Patsy left the house to hide the cord, duct tape, practice ransom notes, etc. It simply does not compute that she could exit and enter but an intruder could not enter and exit. Even a rookie detective should not make a mistake like that. There was real evidence that could easily be attributed to an intruder, but no evidence whatever that Patsy left the house. Thomas apparently considered the missing evidence itself enough to demonstrate Patsy hid it, which is flawed logic.

I really hope he was asked about that.

Thomas thinks the date on JonBenet's tombstone is proof the Ramseys a