Please Sign Petition

[sabreena]

I am a long time follower of the developements in the JonBen

[Deputy Joe]

First, I don't know how much weight an online petition carries. My guess, because of the nature of the internet, not very much.

Second, why should the Govenor or Colorado listen to someone in Wisconsin? Is it even my place to tell the Govenor of Colorado what to do?

My opinion is that online petitions are a waste of time.

[sabreena]

Check out the petition site, there are some success stories there.

The authors of the petition have stated that it is mainly symbolic. Because I totally agree with what it is saying,I am helping to round up signatures and support.

[sabreena]

Nearly 300 request a new investigator in JonBenet case

Petition says DA is biased in favor of parents

By Amy Hebert, Camera Staff Writer
May 25, 2003

Nearly 300 people have signed an Internet petition asking Gov. Bill Owens to appoint a special prosecutor in the JonBenet Ramsey case.

The petition, launched May 15 by a Web site called Forums for Justice, says Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan cannot lead a proper investigation into the 1996 slaying. It says Keenan is biased in favor of JonBenet's parents and has effectively "set the suspects free."

But Tricia Griffith, the Utah resident who runs forumsforjustice.org, said the petition is about justice, not finger-pointing.

"This isn't about finding the Ramseys guilty," Griffith said. "This is about an impartial special prosecutor looking at the evidence, which I would assume the Ramseys want."

Owens decided against appointing a special prosecutor in 1999 after assembling a task force of legal experts to consider the idea. An Internet petition isn't likely to change his mind, Owens' spokesman Dan Hopkins said.

"It's not something the governor is looking to do at the current time," Hopkins said Wednesday.

He said he did not want to elaborate because he hadn't seen the petition.

Griffith said a lot has changed since 1999 that she hopes will make Owens realize it's time to "step up to the plate."

Keenan's office took over the investigation from the Boulder Police Department in December, and four months later she said she agreed with a civil court's conclusion that evidence indicates an intruder killed the 6-year-old in the family's Boulder home.

An Atlanta judge last month dismissed a defamation lawsuit against John and Patsy Ramsey, concluding that evidence presented in the suit suggests JonBenet was not killed by her parents. The suit, brought by Boulder journalist Chris Wolf, claimed the Ramseys named Wolf as a suspect to cover up their own involvement in the slaying.

Keenan declined to comment for this story, but when the lawsuit was dismissed, she said she agreed with the judge's conclusion and that her office is following new leads that support the intruder theory. However, she said she was not influenced by the judge's decision, which was only based on partial evidence, and would not exclude the Ramseys from investigation.

*snip*

The petition says Smit is a friend of the Ramseys, and it says the case requires "fresh eyes" and professional inquiry from people who are not influenced by the Ramseys or their friends or attorneys.

The Ramseys' Atlanta attorney, L. Lin Wood, disputed that his threat of a lawsuit against Boulder police had anything to do with Keenan's decision to take over the case.

"They flatter me with their incorrect assumptions of my power and influence in Boulder," Wood said.

He said the case is getting unbiased, objective treatment from Keenan, and that the people behind the petition "are never going to be satisfied until somebody adopts the position that they believe in."

Wood also dismissed the number of signatures the petition has gathered.

The fact that fewer than 300 people have signed it is "an indication that the majority of people understand that John and Patsy Ramsey are innocent and have been wrongly accused," he said.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/local_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2418_1988520,00.html

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Sign the petition here

http://www.petitiononline.com/jbr246/petition.html

[ateamer]

Nope, I won't sign. It's a Colorado, specifically a Boulder, problem. I don't live there, so it is not my business. Besides, all the public knows about the case is what the mass media has told them, which has been greatly sensationalized. The people involved in the case know all the facts; I guarantee the media has not, and cannot, report the vast bulk of the information the police and D.A. have.

Besides, I am not sure the governor has the power to take cases from the D.A. like that. My advice? Get over it. Just because some junior reporter says something doesn't make it true. The media's sole interest is selling papers or boosting TV ratings - profit. They will only report the facts if it is profitable.

It's just another whodunit murder case. If the D.A. has enough evidence to charge someone, they will.