By Alicia Wallace, Rocky Mountain News
August 10, 2002

John and Patsy Ramsey have emerged from another lengthy legal battle,
but their courtroom days aren't over.

A civil lawsuit brought by the Ramseys against former Boulder Police Detective
Steve Thomas was dismissed Wednesday. The case, in which the couple sought
$80 million for defamation and libel, was settled for an undisclosed amount in May.

"(The Ramseys) are not going to sit back and allow themselves and their family to
be attacked - period. Those days are over," said Atlanta attorney Lin Wood.

The lawsuit said Thomas made false claims in a book he co-authored, JonBenét:
Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, which said Patsy Ramsey killed her
6-year-old daughter in a fit of rage and then tried to make the killing look like a
botched kidnapping. The book also implicated John Ramsey in the coverup of the
1996 slaying in their Boulder home.

Wood said the lawsuit was resolved with Thomas, co-writer Don Davis and St.
Martin's Press, the publishing company.

The family has four other lawsuits pending; two involve the defamation of their son,
Burke, 15. The Ramseys are suing the New York Post and Court TV for claims their
son was a suspect.

Burke is also the subject of another case, this one involving his former attorney, Jim
Jenkins of Atlanta. Jenkins' firm claims the Ramseys owe more than $38,000 in
attorney fees.

The final civil lawsuit involves Chris Wolf, a former Boulder journalist who said he
was targeted as one of 15 suspects in the Ramsey's book, The Death of Innocence.
He is suing the couple for $50 million for libel and slander.

Wood expects a hearing by the end of September.

an older bit of "news" but worth maintaining a thread. Newbies coming here should know that the detective who left the case screaming that the Ramseys did it wrote a book, was sued, and he settled.

The frivolous lawsuit filed by the Ramseys has concluded.

I am sorry for the delay in making a public statement until now, but the Ramsey announcement of a resolution in March was
premature.

I am bound by the terms of the settlement not to discuss its conclusive points but I can tell you this: it was a thoughtful, deliberate
decision. For the record, I was not the one who sought out a settlement in this case.

My absolute requirement for any resolution was the mandate that I would admit no wrongdoing whatsoever, nor would I personally
pay a single dollar in settlement. And that is exactly what was achieved with this resolution. In fact, the book can continue to be
published, advertised, quoted, and marketed. I will continue to speak on the case whenever I wish. I continue to stand resolutely by
my book and the opinions I expressed in it. My beliefs have not changed.

The reality was this: I was well within my Constitutional rights to have stated my opinion regarding the events surrounding this
murder. But this was a civil case. It was about money. Justice and "doing the right thing" do not always prevail in these cases, as
we all know.

On the other hand, we would have enjoyed deposing and taking people in front of a jury, and discovering the truth. Unfortunately,
financial constraints continued to prohibit this, as I was in no position to take on the Ramseys' wealth. In fact, I lost my house and
savings during this struggle.

After almost 6 years, I can now look forward to a much brighter future. I continue to receive a warm welcome and tremendous
support from police around the country. Although I miss police work, and have had invitations to re-join law enforcement, I have
respectfully declined. I am taking my life in a new direction and am enjoying it with people I care about.

Again, I want to reiterate that I personally paid not one red cent, not one thin dime, not one single dollar to settle this suit. I tried to
the very end to take a principled position in this tragic case, and I believe I have done so.

The future still holds hope that true justice for the murderer of an innocent girl will prevail. As I mentioned Proverbs 28:13 on Larry
King Live, I still believe -- "without confession there is no forgiveness".

Please know how forever grateful I am to you for supporting me throughout this ordeal. I can tell you that there are no finer men
than Daniel Petrocelli and Chuck Diamond, who supported me unequivocally. Perhaps this knowledge and explanation is some
small consolation for your support and dedication in helping me with this fight.

Prior to my resignation in 1998, a man whom I admire greatly shared a famous quote with me: "It is a sin to remain silent, when it's
your duty to protest."

Wise words about those who whistle-blow also proved true in the subsequent fight -- "You will feel isolated and vilified, but
ultimately you will know what you did was right. Nothing can diminish that knowledge."

Steve Thomas
6 August 2002

He was deposed in the Wolf case and is fighting to have that deposition sealed - - the judge will NOT seal all of it and is now considering what portions really should be kept private.

Since he wrote a book and was doing speaking tours, I don't see why much should be redacted - - will have to trust the judge to be fair.

I think it will show he was the source for the Vanity Fair article and I think it will show he really had NO interest in following intruder leads - - but we pretty well understood that from his book.

I do NOT think that anything that comes out nowcould hurt the investigation that is not being aggressively persued by the BPD.