JonBenet's Family Livid, Vows to Sue 'Disgusting' CBS

Says report concluding Burke killed JonBenet was full of 'lies, misrepresentations'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2016 6:03 AM CDT
JonBenet's Family Livid, Vows to Sue 'Disgusting' CBS
JonBenet Ramsey   (AP Photo/Ramsey family video)

It was a "false and unprofessional television attack" full of "lies, misrepresentations, distortions, and omissions." That's how a lawyer for the family of JonBenet Ramsey sums up a "disgusting and revolting" CBS documentary and its panel's conclusion that Burke Ramsey likely killed his sister in a rage that was covered up by his parents, John and Patsy. "I will be filing a lawsuit on behalf of Burke Ramsey," the lawyer tells Reuters. He isn't the only one taking issue with the airing, though CBS says it "stands by the broadcast and will do so in court." Rolling Stone calls it "a witch hunt" and "cruel ratings ploy"; in its view the evidence was "almost entirely subjective, at times dangerously misleading and dependent on a flawed police investigation."

The investigators ignored the fact that they reached the same conclusion about Patsy's 911 call—in which they say Burke is heard speaking to his parents—as investigators in 1997, instead presenting their findings as new information. They also focused on what is "appropriate" human behavior and language in examining the Ramsey family's actions after the murder, which is rarely allowed in court. A lawyer not involved in the case calls the re-investigation "a complete travesty," per the New Zealand Herald. Investigators "went into this with an agenda—and that was the killer had to be from the family," he says. "The worldwide audience means it's given [Burke] a worse reputation than if he had actually been tried." (Burke Ramsey says he's innocent.)

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