The Depos - Oh, The Depos

Theonly1

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Websleuthers,

I have been re-reading all the depositions and interviews posted on FFJ. What an eye-opener. They are really worth discussing in depth so I started a thread for them all.

Some opening thoughts. Wow. The 2000 PR interview was crazy or cray-cray. The Chief apparently agreed that only certain avenues would be gone into regarding issues that had come up since the previous interview (years prior). The attorney for PR, in my opinion, took the letter / the opening salvo / prelude to talk as word for word. In my opinion, PRs attorney WANTED the questions asked but also did not want her to answer most of them, for each of his lengthy solliloquies each objection. At first, as I recall they were discussing new suspects or new info so that went reasonably okay. But the minute anything that COULD have been asked before was asked it was like two pitbulls were put in a ring. I have been a paralegal. I have been to law school and used to reading depos. Those interviews were off the chain. At least two attorneys would be engaged in god knows how long p*ssing contests at each objection. Especially over inane things like what PATSY wrote in their book. Like, why does she have to see each page before she can respond? Did she not write the book? The amnesia! It was like unless Patsy could have her memory refreshed by her counsel making the questioner show her anything she was usually not allowed to answer. Some of it was pure piffle! Let her answer the G-darn question. So...that was a real eye-opener about what all they were freaking out about. You can read between the lines.

Yes, police are allowed to lie to witnesses to get them to confess, etc. BUT in this case, they would say "the pineapple matched the rind on the counter" (for example - not exact) Can you explain why or when she may have eaten it? Instead of the standard, "I do not know" her attorney, in my opinion, would have a fit, parse words and demand to see the report. Each.and.every.time.

They were salivating for reports, clearly to me. The DA and whoever were in the room with the Chief (because by this time the Ramseys were getting it their way) would get so frustrated. They had to "take 5" I do not know how many times? 7? After a battle. And PRs attorney wanted the questions asked, in my opinion, so he could ferret out what they knew. For instance, the police kept asking PR if she painted while wearing the coat. One could draw the inference that paint flecks were later found on the coat. They slap out told her atty at one point that her coat fibers were on JBR, on the duct tape, in the paint tray, in the garrote etc. The attorney, without seeing fiber reports would not let her answer at all. AND he said even IF they gave reports over she still may not answer. The interview was halte because they were like, you are objecting to everything. Instead of saying, "okay, we are done," her attorney was BEGGING for the other questions. I mean, read it.

On the Arndt depo, my eyes got as big as hers. Man, I think she did get screwed but the chances of her proving it seemed slim. She flat out said JR molested JBR. Flat out. She also talked about "incest" and it be a family affair! Seemingly, she had no bone to pick with the Ramseys, her bone was against her bosses and them not sticking up for her, clearing her name, and doing all kinds of marginalizing of her. Her case did not seem provable by the depo alone but she did a lot of bean-spilling. She said so much bs had been put out there. That she was NOT close to Patsy, fyi. She also said she believed JR killed JBR.

The John Ramsey depos were no less interesting. Both Ramseys act in the beginning as they can think of no one in the world who woukd hurt JBR but once the screws get out to them then they throw out names like crazy, in my opinion. It is sick.

Oh yeah, and allegedly according to the GJ testimony as recounted in the depos, BR said he owned the Hi-techs. The were boots with compasses on them. Patsy vehemently denied knowing anyyyyyyyyything about it. Also, back to Patsy's later depo, she did not know *advertiser censored* about *advertiser censored* about their own investigations or anything. Anything that seemed like it logically should be known she would throw on John or her attorneys. Apparently, their gang wanted to do a presentation like an intruder thing and since they could not then she never bothered to hear what was going to be said. Huh? I mean, reading those depos is just like SHE MOVED ON. No curiousity about the case, what you are paying people allegedly a lot of money to investigate? I mean, LOL.


Anyway, early take aways:
Arndt says JR molest and killed.
Burke allegedly said the Hi-tecs were his.
There may have also been paint traces on PRs jacket.
Oh, and PR got a big case of amnesia about the Bloomies. Said the pack was in JBRs drawer. Tried to act like she could fit into them and as long as panties "not around her ankles" it was okay!
 
Can someone link the page?? I never seem to be able to navigate that site :(

TIA
 
You will love it, if you do not mind the legalese.
 
Depositions and interviews are two different things. The police, even prosecutors - anyone - can lie in the interviews, but they cannot lie in the depositions.
...

AK
 
Depositions and interviews are two different things. The police, even prosecutors - anyone - can lie in the interviews, but they cannot lie in the depositions.
...

AK

Even defense lawyers can lie. Just didn't want any hurt feelings by leaving out anyone by name. Some folks even lie under oath (as in a sworn deposition). :loveyou:
 
Repeating my take on the Ramsey legal team - particularly L. Wood during the questioning and depositions in Atlanta - from a similar thread many moons ago......

.......and fully prepared for a similar backlash,

Whether innocent or guilty, as the prime suspects, what is most important during police questioning: (A) Try to help find the killer or (B) Stay out of jail? Of course the defense lawyers objected to every question and tried to frustrate LE.

Preemptively: Yes, the first formal interview was 4 months after the murder - I got it.

IMO Morgan and Wood represented the Ramseys masterfully. They were simply focused on (B).
 
Even defense lawyers can lie. Just didn't want any hurt feelings by leaving out anyone by name. Some folks even lie under oath (as in a sworn deposition). :loveyou:
They cannot legally/ethically lie in the depositions.
...

AK
 
They cannot legally/ethically lie in the depositions.
...

AK

If they get caught, sure, they are legally liable. Ethics are another matter and I see several unethical situations from both sides of the Ramsey investigation fence.

The Ramseys certainly lied about several things. Bill Clinton lied (as in committed perjury) in the highest court in the land and he came out smelling like a rose. Mark Fuhrman lied in the OJ trial.

I find it naive to believe people don't lie under oath.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
The Chief and the state attorneys agreed in the follow-up interviews there would be no lying. Just fyi. That would have been unethical from attorney to attorney.
 
If they get caught, sure, they are legally liable. Ethics are another matter and I see several unethical situations from both sides of the Ramsey investigation fence.

The Ramseys certainly lied about several things. Bill Clinton lied (as in committed perjury) in the highest court in the land and he came out smelling like a rose. Mark Fuhrman lied in the OJ trial.

I find it naive to believe people don't lie under oath.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

You’re citing witnesses who lied. We’re not talking about witnesses and we’re not talking about people lying under oath. And, no one was questioned under oath for the depos and/or interviews that we are talking about.

Persons conducting interviews for the depositions are not permitted to lie. That’s what I’m talking about – the interviewers, NOT the interviewees!
Of course, such persons conducting interviews for the depositions might lie anyway, but it is not permitted. And the risk is incredibly high.
...

AK
 
The Chief and the state attorneys agreed in the follow-up interviews there would be no lying. Just fyi. That would have been unethical from attorney to attorney.

Oh? I missed that one.
...

AK
 
C&P of the following priceless posts that are found on the PR Interview thread.

The Ransom Note

she said the ppr the RN was written on looked like it came from her notepad, even tho she was looking at a xeroxed copy of it.No way !

The Red Heart on JonBenét's Hand

Just to bring this back to everyone's attention, in case you missed my point.

4 TRIP DeMUTH: How do you know there
5 was a heart on her hand?
6 PATSY RAMSEY: Because it was on
7 there in the morning, that's why.

8 TRIP DeMUTH: And you remember it
9 from the next morning?
10 PATSY RAMSEY: Uh-hum.
11 TRIP DeMUTH: You saw it the next
12 morning?
13 PATSY RAMSEY: Uh-hum.
14 TRIP DeMUTH: When you say the next
15 morning, did you remember it from the previous
16 evening?
17 PATSY RAMSEY: (Shaking head.) (No
18 response.)


The Prior Sexual Abuse

25 TOM HANEY: Okay. Ms. Ramsey, are
0581
1 you aware that there had been prior vaginal
2 intrusion on JonBenet?
3 PATSY RAMSEY: No, I am not.
4 Prior to the night she was killed?
5 TOM HANEY: Correct.
6 PATSY RAMSEY: No, I am not.
7 TOM HANEY: Didn't know that?
8 PATSY RAMSEY: No, I didn't.
9 TOM HANEY: Does that surprise you?
10 PATSY RAMSEY: Extremely.
11 TOM HANEY: Does that shock you?
12 PATSY RAMSEY: It shocks me.
13 TOM HANEY: Does it bother you?
14 PATSY RAMSEY: Yes, it does.
15 TOM HANEY: Who, how could she have
16 been violated like that?
17 PATSY RAMSEY: I don't know. This
18 is the absolute first time I ever heard that.

She doesn't seemed too shocked or bothered by it to me??? She actually didn't act very surprised at all.

The Bible

1 TRIP DEMUTH: I brought that photo out
2 because I want to know, this is 287 and 226 are of the
3 bible. Does it look unusual to have the bible open
4 like that? Some people leave it open all the time.
5 Other people like to have their desk tops cleared up.
6 PATSY RAMSEY: John is pretty finicky about
7 his desk top, you know. He -- yeah, I would think he
8 would not leave it like that. I never went in there
9 that much, so I didn't pay attention. My bathroom was
10 around back here.
11 TRIP DEMUTH: Well --
12 PATSY RAMSEY: I would be surprised that he
13 would leave that open.

I guess that the polite "intruder" left the bible open. He probably did that right before he prayed.


The Flashbacks

Did anyone catch this??? WHY oh why was she not pressed for more details on these weird,out -of -place comments??? She practically runs the interview at times !!!!


12 TOM HANEY: Okay. Do your symptoms include
13 anything like nightmares?
14 PATSY RAMSEY: I had those.
15 TOM HANEY: About?
16 PATSY RAMSEY: Uh-huh, I have flashbacks of
17 seeing my daughter lying down on the floor in our
18 living room, and I have flashbacks of hearing JonBenet
19 scream. I have nightmares where I am, you know,
20 searching, searching, searching trying to find
21 somebody, and trying to find who did this.

The Lampoon

Det. Haney: Patsy, I'd like for you to take a look at this picture of JonBenet's bathroom.

Patsy: Oh,my God! What's that toilet doing in there?

Det. Haney: What do you mean?

Patsy: That toilet shouldn't be there!

Det. Haney: Okay. Now take a look at this picture of her bedroom.

Patsy: Those beds! What are those beds doing in there? Those beds shouldn't be in there! Who put those beds in there, do you know?

Det. Haney: Okay. Moving on to the next picture. It's of your kitchen.

Patsy: This is very weird. That refrigerator shouldn't be there!

Det. Haney: It shouldn't?

Patsy: No, it shouldn't!

-Tea

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48250&page=5
 
You’re citing witnesses who lied. We’re not talking about witnesses and we’re not talking about people lying under oath. And, no one was questioned under oath for the depos and/or interviews that we are talking about.

Persons conducting interviews for the depositions are not permitted to lie. That’s what I’m talking about – the interviewers, NOT the interviewees!
Of course, such persons conducting interviews for the depositions might lie anyway, but it is not permitted. And the risk is incredibly high.
...

AK

And, no one was questioned under oath for the depos and/or interviews that we are talking about.

I am not with understanding this remark. The Police Interviews were actually Police Interrogations. Urban Legend changed the term to infer the interrogators went too easy on the witnesses. The deponents were under oath during their interview/depositions. What would be the point of deposing anyone if they weren't held to the standard of truth?

If LE ever misled the Rs, it might have been once, when they asked about JRs shirt fibers conveniently planted in the crotch of JonBenét's panties. It's the only evidence that forensically ties JR intimately to the crime scene. But ST gave JR a pass on the abuse....

Lou Smit likes to talk. Even though we interpret the evidence differently, he revealed quite a bit of information in his depo.
 
I am not with understanding this remark. The Police Interviews were actually Police Interrogations. Urban Legend changed the term to infer the interrogators went too easy on the witnesses. The deponents were under oath during their interview/depositions. What would be the point of deposing anyone if they weren't held to the standard of truth?

If LE ever misled the Rs, it might have been once, when they asked about JRs shirt fibers conveniently planted in the crotch of JonBenét's panties. It's the only evidence that forensically ties JR intimately to the crime scene. But ST gave JR a pass on the abuse....

Lou Smit likes to talk. Even though we interpret the evidence differently, he revealed quite a bit of information in his depo.
Your confusion is understandable – I misspoke (I was wrong). As you point out, the testimony for the depositions would have been under oath.
However, the testimony given during the interviews, or interrogations, or whatever you want to call them – as opposed to the depositions – to my knowledge would not have been given under oath.

It doesn’t really matter, because I was talking about the interrogators, not the witnesses. The interrogators are permitted to lie during the interviews, but not during the depositions.

This is an important distinction. Assuming that interrogators act as permitted than we can presume – for example – that information gleaned from Wood’s questioning of Thomas is factually true, but, information gleaned from Smit’s questioning of Ramsey during the ’98 interviews might not be factually true; etc.
...

AK
 
If LE ever misled the Rs, it might have been once, when they asked about JRs shirt fibers conveniently planted in the crotch of JonBenét's panties. It's the only evidence that forensically ties JR intimately to the crime scene. But ST gave JR a pass on the abuse....

Even if your being misled in the box, that's still no reason for you not to tell the truth. The purpose of a detective trying to misled a suspect is for them to make a mistake in their deception and lie.

If you are telling the truth, you just tell the truth. You don't make up the truth on the fly.

If I tell you in an interrogation that the sky is green. A truthful person says "What!" or tell you no the sky is blue" or he simply skips over the question.

A liar will start to tell a story saying "well some people have told me the sky is green. At times yesterday I noticed it was kind of greenish.." The liar spins a story and doesn't realize that what the interrogator is saying is wrong.
 

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