John Mark Karr - Case Dismissed and He's Released

[Gaybutton]

That's very interesting. As you may recall, a Thai immigration official had said that if Karr is not convicted of anything, then he would be welcome to return to Thailand.

 

Here's the story:

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SANTA ROSA, California (AP)

 

A judge dismissed child pornography charges Thursday against former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to take the case to trial.

 

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau ordered Karr released immediately.

 

So ended Karr's strange, bringing two-month odyssey through the U.S. criminal justice system. It began when he was extradited from Thailand on suspicion of killing the 6-year-old beauty queen.

 

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, Colorado, home in 1996.

 

The 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.

 

Defense lawyers tried twice unsuccessfully to get the charges dismissed and were seeking to have evidence barred from trial when prosecutors gave up.

 

"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."

 

Karr's attorneys launched a fresh attack this week, saying the computer that held the alleged images was never used in California.

 

Defense attorney Robert Amparan said Wednesday that the printout made by sheriff's deputies cataloging the contents of the hard drive on Karr's computer showed the computer hasn't been used in eight years.

 

"Nothing has been accessed on that computer since 1998, two years before the Karrs moved from Alabama to California," Amparan said.

 

Divorce records indicate Karr, his former wife and their three children moved from Alabama to Petaluma in 2000.

 

At least one observer said if Karr obtained the images more than a year before charges were filed, a judge could dismiss the case because the deadline for bringing charges had expired.

 

"If they can show that computer wasn't even accessed after 1998 and the last time it was accessed he was in another state, as well, then there's some serious problems," said Joseph L. Stogner, an attorney and professor at Empire Law School in Santa Rosa.

 

Last week, a different judge refused to toss out the case after the defense filed a dismissal motion based on authorities' loss of Karr's computer.

 

Investigators have acknowledged they lost the computer, but said they found a "mirror image" of its hard drive on a sheriff's department computer.

 

On Thursday, Chouteau had been expected to hear two more defense motions -- one to exclude the evidence found on the hard drive, and another to invalidate the search warrant that led to the confiscation of the computer because investigators allegedly were relying on an informant who was mentally ill.

 

Karr was charged with possessing child pornography in 2001, but the former teacher fled before his trial later that year.

[Guest catawampuscat]

Not appropriate for GAY Thailand forum as this clown is straight..

[Guest pete1969]

Cat, I don't think his sexaul orientation is the issue. What is at issue is that this guy was apprehended in BKK and a huge fuss was made in LOS and in the US about child predators from other countries coming to LOS. It seemed for a moment that all single male tourists, expats, and teachers, gay and straight, would be getting extra scutiny due to this case. This case brought lots of attention to LOS and to the sex industry (both legal and illegal) and the roles of farang teachers/expats in LOS. John Mark Karr is Thailand's most famous ex-expat at the moment.

 

The fact that he can't be convicted of any crime is IMO important to the perception that Thais and others might form of the case and how it affects tourists, foreign teachers, and expats to LOS.

 

Pete