JonBenet Ramsey murder: Man accused of killing six-year-old sister in documentary sues CBS
Burke Ramsey’s lawyer is suing the network for ‘lies’ and ‘omissions’
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The man who has been accused by a documentary of murdering his six-year-old sister is suing television network CBS.
The documentary: The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, which aired 18 September, assembled a panel of crime and forensic experts to go over the case 20 years ago, in which the young girl and beauty pageant contestant was found murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado.
The lawyer of her brother, Burke Ramsey, now 29, is targeting what he claims are the “lies, misrepresentations, distortions, and omissions" in the two-part series.
L Lin Wood, said the network’s desire for “ratings and profits” was put before the truth.
“In doing so, CBS perpetrated a fraud on its viewers – there was no new investigation by the phony TV 'experts'."
Mr Ramsey was dismissed as a suspect by police in May 1999, the lawyer added, and in 2003 Georgia federal judge Julie Carnes said that “abundant evidence” supported assertions by the girl’s parents that JonBenét was murdered by an intruder on 25 December 1996, which led to the Boulder District attorney publicly exonerating the family in 2008 based on “conclusive DNA evidence”.
“No fair-minded person can condone this false and heinous television attack by CBS on a young man for ratings and profits,” the statement continued.
“Burke Ramsey shall seek redress against CBS for its outrageous accusations in a court of law where he successfully acquitted himself over 15 years ago in libel actions filed against the tabloid Star Magazine, the New York Post and Court TV for publishing similar false accusations. CBS shall be held accountable for the damage it has unlawfully inflicted on this young man’s reputation.”
CBS’ experts concluded that nine-year-old Burke Ramsey had allegedly killed his sister in a fit of anger. They argued his parents allegedly created a scenario of an intruder to protect their son.
The network told Business Insider that it would stand by the broadcast in court.
In the documentary, the so-called experts said the mother, Patsy, made an "unusual" 911 call in that she hung up before police arrived at her house in 1996. The family said they found a ransom note on their stairs demanding $118,000.
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