Defense seeks to block testing of Karr’s DNA
BOULDER, Colo. – John Mark Karr waited in a private jail cell Friday for a court appearance next week in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey, while his attorney sought to protect any DNA samples taken from his client and a document with Karr’s handwriting.
A judge scheduled Karr’s first appearance in Boulder County Court for Monday afternoon, a proceeding expected to last just moments.
Deputy Public Defender Seth Temin filed a flurry of motions asking the judge to prohibit prosecutors and police from conducting any DNA testing without first notifying the court and the defense.
Karr, 41, was given a mouth-swab DNA test while he was in custody in Thailand, a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation has told the Associated Press. The results of that test were not known.
Temin said if a DNA sample has been obtained from Karr “it was not obtained pursuant to applicable law, the constitutions or by valid consent.” He suggested Karr would not provide any further samples without a court order.
After meeting with Karr on Friday, Temin said he did not know whether authorities had obtained any DNA samples. District attorney’s spokeswoman Carolyn French said she could not comment.
French said prosecutors would respond to Temin’s court motions after reviewing them.
DNA is believed to be a key in solving the 10-year-old slaying of JonBenet, a photogenic contestant in child beauty pageants. Police collected DNA from blood spots in her underwear and from under her fingernails.
Investigators have said some of the DNA was too degraded to use as evidence, but some was of sufficient quality to submit to the FBI in 2003. It did not match any of the 1.5 million samples in the agency’s database at the time, according to the Ramsey family attorney.
Temin did not detail why he took the unusual step of asking the court to seal Karr’s handwritten request to be represented by a publicly funded lawyer.
Some commentators have suggested that Karr’s handwriting in a high school yearbook resembles the writing on a ransom note found in the Ramsey home a few hours before JonBenet was found strangled with a skull fracture in her family’s mansion on Dec. 26, 1996.
Without referring specifically to the speculation, Temin told the court in a filing Friday that he “is without sufficient knowledge about all the facts of the case to be able to evaluate the prejudice that may be associated with the release of any of the defendant’s handwriting.”
Karr was being held in an 8-by-10-foot cell, though he could have contact with one other inmate by way of a “sub-dayroom” adjoining his cell, sheriff’s Cmdr. Bruce Haas said.
“His demeanor is calm. He’s been resting,” Haas said. “He’s sleeping and hanging out – pretty uneventful.”
Formal charges are still pending against Karr.