A protection lawyer for a person accused in a 1994 Boulder killing is searching for data from the early hours of the investigation into the dying of JonBenet Ramsey that he says might reveal that police on the time have been “woefully incompetent,” in line with courtroom paperwork.
Prosecutors introduced in September that Michael Clark, 50, could be prosecuted again in reference to the 1994 Boulder killing of Boulder metropolis worker Marty Grisham after the earlier homicide conviction was overturned in April, partially due to defective DNA proof linked to a statewide scandal. The case is about for a Could jury trial.
After serving greater than 12 years of a life jail sentence, Clark was released on bail whereas prosecutors thought of whether or not the case towards him ought to proceed. Clark, who has maintained his innocence, was initially convicted in 2012 in Grisham’s dying.
A decide this yr overturned Clark’s conviction after his attorneys discovered proof that DNA testing within the case was mishandled by now-former Colorado Bureau of Investigation scientist Yvonne “Missy” Woods, one in every of a number of issues with the unique homicide prosecution.
Woods was charged in January with 102 felonies linked to widespread misconduct throughout DNA testing over her 29-year-career with CBI. Her case is pending.
Adam Frank, Clark’s lawyer, filed 12 subpoenas, searching for data from the primary 48 hours of the unsolved Ramsey investigation and details about CBI insurance policies associated to DNA testing.
The Boulder County District Lawyer’s Workplace filed a movement to void all 12 subpoenas and questioned the relevance of among the protection’s requests, together with the request for data from the Ramsey investigation, in line with courtroom paperwork.
In a response to the DA’s movement, Frank writes that the Boulder Police Division “dedicated colossal errors” when investigating the dying of 6-year-old magnificence pageant star by failing to conduct searches and gather proof. Ramsey’s physique was discovered within the basement of the household’s dwelling.
The division “made the very same kind of colossal mistake” in its investigation into Grisham’s dying, Frank argues within the movement, and the subpoenaed data would present that the “very same forms of incompetence” that led the division to fail to resolve the Ramsey homicide additionally led them to fail to resolve Grisham’s killing.
The protection can be searching for details about DNA checks that have been returned invalid or undetermined from August 2009 to August 2011, in line with courtroom paperwork. It is also searching for data on CBI insurance policies from the identical interval associated to invalid and undetermined outcomes, and insurance policies associated to having proof and reference samples on the identical plate or workbench.
The case is scheduled for a evaluation listening to at 9 a.m. Tuesday on the Boulder County Justice Heart.
Up to date 10:24 a.m. Oct. 28, 2025: This text was up to date to make clear that Marty Grisham was a metropolis worker on the time of his dying.
