For the past 34 months, the killers of JonBenet Ramsey have escaped justice. Earlier this month, a Boulder grand jury looking into the case dissolved as District Attorney Alex Hunter announced he would not seek any indictments at this time. Mr. Hunter also stressed that the Ramsey investigation would continue. Whether I should appoint a special prosecutor to take over the Ramsey case. This is not a decision I take lightly.
Law enforcement is chiefly a local governmental function in our State.
Only rarely does a Governor take away a criminal case from a District Attorney. Yet there is precedent for a Governor to appoint a special prosecutor who goes on to win a conviction, as Governor Roy Romer did a dozen years ago in a child abuse case. My decision reflects their advice, as well as conversations I have had with many other people connected with this case. But let me stress that this decision is mine and mine alone. Ladies and gentlemen, any unsolved crime of violence tears at the fabric of our society, none more so than the murder of a child.