A press advocacy group along with a reporter from the Boulder Daily Camera filed a lawsuit against Boulder County District Attorney, Stan Garnett, according to the Huffington Post.
The said lawsuit is aimed at the release of the secretly-voted-on indictment of the Ramsey parents by the grand jury in the 1999 slaying case. During the earlier part of 2013, The Daily Camera first reported that the grand jury voted to indict John Benet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey in 1999 on charges of child abuse resulting to death.
However, the prosecutor at that time, then District-Attorney Alex Hunter, refused to sign the indictment. Hunter told media back in 1999 that he did not believe his office had enough evidence to file any charges, though the Ramsey family remained prime suspects for years before finally being absolved in 2008.
"Knowing and reckless" child abuse resulting in death is a Class 2 felony charge that could have resulted in up to 48 years in prison for the Ramsey parents. Daily Camera Reporter Charlie Brennan and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed the lawsuit in Boulder District Court Wednesday.
"The plaintiffs believe that the indictment is a criminal justice record that reflects official action by the grand jury, and accordingly that it is subject to mandatory disclosure upon request," the complaint reads. Brennan and the RCFP also argue that the indictment should be made public in the interest of government transparency.
On Dec. 26, 1996, 6-year-old Jon Benet was found bludgeoned and strangled to death in the basement of her family home. A ransom note from an anonymous group of individuals "that represent a foreign faction" asking for $118,000 in exchange for the safe return of Jon Benet was found just hours before, but no call ever came from a kidnapper and it was never linked to a murderer.
