Updated August 31, 2000, 11:55 a.m. ET
Patsy Ramsey says prosecutors should put up or shut up
ATLANTA (AP) Patsy Ramsey says that if prosecutors in Colorado
think she's a murderer, they should charge her and "get it over
with."
After nearly four years of being under suspicion in the death of
their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, Mrs. Ramsey told USA Today she
and her husband, John, are weary and frustrated.
"I'm beyond being hurt or embarrassed," she told the newspaper
Wednesday. "If you think I did it, let's have a trial and get it
over with." The Ramseys added that they do not want a trial but
are not afraid to go to court.
Police planned no comment on Mrs. Ramsey's challenge,
spokeswoman Jennifer Bray said Thursday.
Earlier, Ramsey attorney Lin Wood and prosecutor Michael Kane
agreed to release the full tape of this week's two-day, 10-hour
police interview with the Ramseys in Atlanta, their first talk with
police in more than two years.
Wood's office said Thursday the tape could be released as early
as next week. Wood released a tape of 22 minutes of the 10-hour
session Wednesday.
The agreement happened during an interview Wednesday night on
CNN's "Larry King Live." After Wood challenged Kane to explain
why a grand jury did not indict his clients, Kane and Wood also
agreed to seek release of grand jury transcripts.
"I'll tell you what: If you will go to court with me, and ask
the president judge to authorize a release of that information, I
will release it," Kane said.
Wood said, "Let the truth come out."
The Ramseys have been under suspicion in the 1996 death of the
child beauty queen, who was found beaten and strangled in the
family's home in Boulder, Colo. No one has been charged, and the
Ramseys have maintained their innocence.
A grand jury was convened in 1998 but disbanded last year
without an indictment.
The two lawyers sparred on the King show over this week's
interrogations, in which Kane and other investigators wanted to
raise questions about what they described as new forensic evidence.
Kane complained that he had been misled into thinking the
Ramseys would answer any question. Wood insisted the couple had
answered "fair" questions but acknowledged he had objected to
questions based on the prosecutors' explanation of the forensic
results.
"He wanted to tell us what the results of the tests were and
then ask a hypothetical question about it," Wood said. "The tests
results as they described them were confusing. They couldn't give
us a clear explanation, so I said 'just show us the results."'
On the videotape segment released Wednesday, Kane threatened to
storm out after Wood objected to one line of questioning.
"This is a sham," Kane told Wood in an excerpt of the tape
released Wednesday. "This is a big publicity stunt on your part."
The angry exchange between Kane and Wood came Monday after Kane
asked Mrs. Ramsey why she didn't seem more concerned about the
safety of her son Burke, now 13, if she believed an intruder killed
JonBenet.
On the 22-minute segment of the tape released by Wood, Kane
asked Mrs. Ramsey if she worried about someone accosting her son at
a stop sign on his way to school. Wood objected.
"What's the objection now?" Kane asked.
"I just wonder, what does this have to do with the
investigation into finding who killed JonBenet Ramsey?" Wood
asked.
Kane rose from the conference table, closed his notebook and
acted as if he would leave. He called Wood an obstructionist and
said the question was justified.
In the end, Kane didn't leave and the session continued.
"The point is, they're foolish questions," John Ramsey told
The Associated Press. "He's trying to discredit us. It has nothing
to do with finding the killer."
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