2008 Woodie Awards
"Did the media lead you to believe that John Mark Karr was guilty?"
Alli Kirkham
Issue date: 9/6/06 Section: Opinion
JonBenet Ramsey is dead, her mother is dead and the story is dead. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is, when a truly sick individual named John Mark Karr came forward and confessed to having murdered a six-year-old beauty queen.
Since Karr's initial arrest in Thailand, the media has been all over the case; reporting what he ate on the plane to California, spewing the details of his family life, printing the cell
arrangements he was to have in prison to prevent him from being killed before his trial.
His TRIAL.
Does anyone remember what that is anymore? As soon as Karr confessed he was instantly thought to be guilty by the news media; and the media did their damndest to make sure everyone else thought he was guilty too. There were the highly
publicized tapes of Karr's conversations with Wendy Hutchens about the murder of JonBenet, there were hourly reports on the progress of his DNA comparison to the material found on the victim, and when it finally was announced that he couldn't have been the killer, the world forgot John Mark Karr.
What it didn't forget was Boulder District Attorney, Mary Lacy, and the thousands of dollars spent on getting Karr from Thailand to California, and then from California to Boulder, only to find out that Karr wasn't the man they were looking for.
Enter the screaming masses. Lacy was called on to resign, talk show hosts as well as Colorado Governor Bill Owens were screeching about "taxpayer's money," and on went the show.
I never thought Karr did it; this is because the US court system and I happen to agree on a couple of things, one of which is the concept of "innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt." The Karr case, up until the DNA results came back, was all doubt.
Where was he on Christmas, with JonBenet, or his family? Did he even know her? Is he insane and trying to become a criminal-ebrity, like Scott Petersen? Too many doubts, in my mind, to convict him; and too many doubts for a district attorney.
Lacy is in a world of trouble now for doing her job, for trying to erase doubt and ease the suffering of JonBenet's surviving family.
The media, they don't care; they're in it to sell to you, to create intrigue and romance out of a long dead little girl. They WANT you to believe that he's guilty; they want you to feel outraged and affronted at his audacity. They don't have to prove anything, they just have to sell it.So thank you, Mary Lacy, for having something to prove.
Since Karr's initial arrest in Thailand, the media has been all over the case; reporting what he ate on the plane to California, spewing the details of his family life, printing the cell
arrangements he was to have in prison to prevent him from being killed before his trial.
His TRIAL.
Does anyone remember what that is anymore? As soon as Karr confessed he was instantly thought to be guilty by the news media; and the media did their damndest to make sure everyone else thought he was guilty too. There were the highly
publicized tapes of Karr's conversations with Wendy Hutchens about the murder of JonBenet, there were hourly reports on the progress of his DNA comparison to the material found on the victim, and when it finally was announced that he couldn't have been the killer, the world forgot John Mark Karr.
What it didn't forget was Boulder District Attorney, Mary Lacy, and the thousands of dollars spent on getting Karr from Thailand to California, and then from California to Boulder, only to find out that Karr wasn't the man they were looking for.
Enter the screaming masses. Lacy was called on to resign, talk show hosts as well as Colorado Governor Bill Owens were screeching about "taxpayer's money," and on went the show.
I never thought Karr did it; this is because the US court system and I happen to agree on a couple of things, one of which is the concept of "innocent until proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt." The Karr case, up until the DNA results came back, was all doubt.
Where was he on Christmas, with JonBenet, or his family? Did he even know her? Is he insane and trying to become a criminal-ebrity, like Scott Petersen? Too many doubts, in my mind, to convict him; and too many doubts for a district attorney.
Lacy is in a world of trouble now for doing her job, for trying to erase doubt and ease the suffering of JonBenet's surviving family.
The media, they don't care; they're in it to sell to you, to create intrigue and romance out of a long dead little girl. They WANT you to believe that he's guilty; they want you to feel outraged and affronted at his audacity. They don't have to prove anything, they just have to sell it.So thank you, Mary Lacy, for having something to prove.
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