John Mark Karr, who is continually referred to as “JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect” despite having voluntarily confessed to the crime, was treated like a king on his flight home from Thailand. Legal experts have mixed reviews.
Authorities probably had a very good reason for allowing JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr to live it up on the 15-hour flight to the United States, legal experts say — they wanted him to talk. Denver attorney Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the royal treatment during Sunday’s journey — king prawns, champagne, French wine — was “a brilliant move.” “What the cops want most is this guy to talk. They say he is not under arrest. Then they do not put him in handcuffs on the plane. And they say he is over the age of 21, free to drink,” Pozner said. “He is therefore free to talk.” If Karr says something incriminating that is challenged in court, Pozner said, the investigator who was sitting next to him simply says he was never in my custody. “There is always a reason when the unusual happens,” Pozner said. “He is in nobody’s custody. He is free to leave if he can find a way at 38,000 feet
Karr left Bangkok on a Thai Airways International flight at about 9 a.m. EDT for the long flight to Los Angeles. The 41-year-old teacher sat in a business class window seat next to Mark Spray, an investigator with the Boulder County District Attorney’s office. Before takeoff, he sipped champagne. During dinner, Karr had pate, salad with walnut dressing and fried king prawn with steamed rice and broccoli. Karr had a beer before a glass of French chardonnay with the main course.
This is a variation of a classic interrogation technique. Still, others have their doubts.
Craig Silverman, a former Denver prosecutor familiar with the case, said was surprised that authorities would allow Karr to sit on the plane sipping champagne and drinking beer. “It could be that if he got a little inebriated he would make further statements that could include or exclude him from this case,” Silverman said.
Bob Grant, a former Adams County district attorney who was involved in the Ramsey investigation, disagreed. “It seems odd to me,” he said. “It is very strange. Whoever is in control of him ought to make sure he isn’t doing things like drinking champagne.”
I don’t know the legal technicalities here, let alone whether the plan (if that was the plan) worked. Still, I can’t believe a judge would consider that Karr was not under arrest in these circumstances. Even in an ordinary traffic stop for a non-criminal ordinance infraction, people who reasonably feel they are not free to leave are considered to be in custody.
