SANTA ROSA, Calif.-
The FBI is reviewing images of teenagers found on computer equipment seized from former JonBenet Ramsey slaying suspect John Mark Karr’s home to compare the images with a national database of child porn victims, a Sonoma County prosecutor said.
The digital images were not related to child pornography charges against Karr, said Deputy County Counsel Anne Keck. It was not immediately clear which files the FBI was reviewing.
The disclosure came at a hearing in which Judge Cerena Wong refused to unseal police documents in the child pornography case against Karr. Prosecutors argued they could harm the investigation and prejudice potential jurors.
Authorities said they found five images of child porn on Karr’s computer when he was arrested in April 2001. He fled before he went to trial. Investigators conceded they lost Karr’s computer some time in the past five years, but claim to have found copies of the data recently.
Defense lawyers did not comment on the FBI involvement, but renewed efforts to get the charges dismissed and filed a motion to exclude newly discovered computer evidence from his case.
Prosecutors “don’t know how the images got there,” defense lawyer Robert Amparan said. “They don’t know whether Mr. Karr knew they were there. They don’t know when if ever they were viewed.”
A hearing was scheduled Tuesday to decide whether the case should be dismissed or evidence should be excluded if it goes to trial.
Karr, who was extradited from Colorado last month to face the five-year-old charges, appeared briefly at the hearing, looking tired and worn.
Karr has rejected a plea deal that would have put him on probation. Prosecutors have conceded he probably won’t serve more time if convicted because he already spent several months in jail awaiting trial five years ago. They said they want Karr to register as a sex offender.
The former teacher was arrested in Thailand last month after suggesting he killed JonBenet, a 6-year-old beauty queen, in her Boulder, Colo., home in 1996. The Ramsey case quickly collapsed after DNA failed to connect him to the crime.
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