Judge dismisses porn charges against Karr

estranged4life · #1 10-05-2006, 09:54 PM

Former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect was being charged in Calif. court

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15146356/

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - The former suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing left jail Thursday after a judge dismissed child pornography charges against him, saying prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to take the case to trial.

John Mark Karr was ordered released immediately by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau, ending his two-month odyssey in the U.S. criminal justice system after he was extradited from Thailand on suspicion of killing the 6-year-old beauty queen.

He did not comment to reporters as he left the Sonoma County jail flanked by his attorneys and rode off in a black Volvo sport-utility vehicle.

Karr, 41, was returned to California last month to face the five-year-old pornography case after DNA evidence cleared him of killing the girl in her Boulder, Colo., home in 1996.

The misdemeanor pornography case fell apart almost as quickly, as investigators admitted losing vital computer evidence that was seized from Karr in April 2001 when he was working as a substitute teacher in Sonoma and Napa counties.

'Pleasantly surprised'
Defense lawyers tried twice unsuccessfully to get the charges dismissed and were seeking to have evidence barred from trial when prosecutors gave up. They said they couldn't establish when the child porn images had been downloaded on Karr's computer.

"The impression that we've had all along is that the prosecution had every intention of getting this case to trial, regardless of the evidence," said defense lawyer Robert Amparan. "I am pleasantly surprised by them having done the right thing."

Prosecutors acknowledged that if Karr were convicted he would not have served any additional time in jail, because he spent several months behind bars awaiting trial in 2001. They said they were seeking to have him register as a sex offender.

Karr was not in court for the hearing. He was expected to be released from jail later in the day. It was not immediately clear where Karr would go or what he might do.

Karr had fled the state after being released from jail in 2001 and had been on the lam until his arrest in Bangkok, which caused a sensation when he told reporters he was with JonBenet when she died.

Karr, who moved to California from Alabama with his wife and three sons, first came to the attention of Sonoma County officials after an informant told authorities about alarming e-mails he had been sending her.

Investigators looked at Karr in connection with the unsolved 1997 murder of 12-year-old Georgia Moses, whose body was found dumped along a highway in Sonoma County, Karr's lawyers said.

The sexually explicit pictures of children were later found during a search of his home, authorities said.

His arrest led school officials to strip him of his teaching credential, and his marriage ended in divorce later that year.

In hearings over the past two weeks, the defense accused prosecutors of misconduct for failing to alert the judge sooner that evidence was missing, and they questioned the strength of the evidence that remained. The defense also said the search warrants were based on an unreliable witness with a history of mental illness.

Sheriff Bill Cogbill said he accepted the prosecutor's decision to drop the charges.

"We do acknowledge that there were some performance issues five years ago when we worked this case," Cogbill said in a statement. "We're conducting an internal affairs investigation into these issues, and we're continuing an audit of our evidence handling procedures."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

PsychCat · #2 10-06-2006, 05:27 AM

And his 15 mins are now officially UP!
Now may he go away and be forever relegated to an unanswerable trivia question.

irishgrl · #3 10-06-2006, 06:16 AM

I posted this possibility about 2-3 weeks ago.....and so Im not surprised. I think his reputation is ruined however and he will be a pariah now. As he should be. What a sad sack.

strandinthewind · #4 10-06-2006, 09:20 AM

I could have told you this then too. He accomplished his goals - get back here for free and get noticed for Jon Benet. FUKC HIM!

SuzeQuze · #5 10-06-2006, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishgrl

I posted this possibility about 2-3 weeks ago.....and so Im not surprised. I think his reputation is ruined however and he will be a pariah now. As he should be. What a sad sack.

Yep, I remember that.

gldstwmn · #6 10-06-2006, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I could have told you this then too. He accomplished his goals - get back here for free and get noticed for Jon Benet. FUKC HIM!

They should bill him for the flight back.

strandinthewind · #7 10-06-2006, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

They should bill him for the flight back.

Yep!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DrummerDeanna · #8 10-06-2006, 01:44 PM

I am so completely sick of this guy. Hopefully now he will go away but I agree that he should be billed for that flight back! At the very least he should be billed for the champaign

Sarah · #9 10-06-2006, 02:29 PM

well, his reputation may be ruined, but he still gets to go home and jerk off to kiddie porn all he wants.

what a creep. finding sexually explicit pictures of children in his home should have been enough evidence.

it's retarded how we want to be tough on druggies and lock them in jail forever without talk of "rehab" but at the same time go soft on children exploiters and other violent criminals in hopes of rehabilitation.

this punk needs some street justice.

mikeschmike · #10 10-06-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

At the very least he should be billed for the champaign

At the very least I hope it was cheap champagne and he got a wicked headache from it.

Seriously though, this guy should be in jail.

DavidMn · #11 10-06-2006, 03:35 PM

He'el get his someday, one way or the other.

DrummerDeanna · #12 10-06-2006, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

He'el get his someday, one way or the other.

I just hope that innocent children aren't forever scarred and hurt in order for him to get taken down

That's my fear - everyone now knows this guy's a sicko with a highly unhealthy fascination with young girls...yet they have no legal grounds to lock him up...it's maddening!

DavidMn · #13 10-06-2006, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

I just hope that innocent children aren't forever scarred and hurt in order for him to get taken down

That's my fear - everyone now knows this guy's a sicko with a highly unhealthy fascination with young girls...yet they have no legal grounds to lock him up...it's maddening!

The good news though is now theyre on him like stink on ****. I doubt he'el be able to pull this kind of stuff again.

DrummerDeanna · #14 10-06-2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

The good news though is now theyre on him like stink on ****. I doubt he'el be able to pull this kind of stuff again.

I don't know...you'd be amazed by the negligence of the law enforcement community and yes, the feds. I'm hoping this guy just randomly gets the **** kicked out of him on the street....no children would be harmed in the making of that scenario