Ramsey Prosecutors Expected to Make Recommendation

DENVER —  Gov. Roy Romer said Monday he expects a recommendation from four prosecutors reviewing the JonBenet Ramsey case within a week and then will decide whether to get involved in the investigation of the nearly 20-month-old unsolved slaying.

“I don’t want to give the impression at this press conference that I’m about to appoint a special prosecutor. Don’t read that out of my comments,” Romer told reporters at a briefing on an unrelated matter.

In Colorado, the governor has statutory authority to appoint a special prosecutor if a district attorney refuses to file charges.

“It may well be that I’m not going to do anything. It may be very disruptive to that case to change it now, and if that’s the case, I’m not going to do it,” he said.

A scathing eight-page resignation letter from Boulder Det. Steve Thomas that accuses Boulder Dist. Atty. Alex Hunter of bungling the case renewed interest in appointing a special prosecutor. In January, Romer refused a request from a friend of the Ramseys’ that a special prosecutor be named.

“The content of that letter was pretty direct, and forceful,” Romer said. “Because of content, and because of public confidence,” he took the letter under advisement, he said.

JonBenet, a 6-year-old beauty queen, was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996. There have been no arrests, although her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, remain “under an umbrella of suspicion,” police said.

The Ramseys have maintained their innocence.