Jul 11, 3:52 am
Newsgroups: alt.true-crime
From: "tiny dancer"
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:52:18 -0400
Local: Fri, Jul 11 2008 3:52 am
Subject: Lou Smit vs. Steve Thomas & the bungling Boulder P.D.
I'll take Lou Smits evidence and investigative abilities any day over Steve
Thomas, who had never investigated a homicide in his life. Smit has
consistently had a 90 % plus record in solving cases over his lengthy
career.
Smit draws some support
Boulder's police chief still skeptical on intruder theory
By Todd Hartman, News Staff Writer
May 4, 2001
A handful of veteran Colorado law enforcement and legal figures are rallying
behind retired detective Lou Smit's belief that an intruder likely killed
JonBenet Ramsey.
They say Smit's views were dismissed by inexperienced Boulder investigators
who became so fixated on the Ramseys early in the case that they put more
energy into explaining away evidence pointing to an intruder than following
clues wherever they might lead.
"When I saw Lou's presentation, I was stunned, and frankly I was outraged by
the course this case has taken," said Greg Walta, the state's chief public
defender from 1978 to 1982 and an attorney who has both battled and
represented Smit in the courtroom.
"What concerns me isn't just that the Ramseys have been crucified," said El
Paso County Sheriff John Anderson, "it's that a killer is still at large.
I'm convinced of it."
"Lou Smit is the most ethical professional I've ever met," (Bob)
Russel (Smit's lawyer) said.
Smit's attorney, Russel, is a former district attorney in El Paso County who
held the office for two decades and was involved in some of the earliest
efforts to educate district attorneys nationally about child abuse.
Throughout his career, Russel said, he has never heard of another case in
which a parent garroted a child.
"When I first saw (Smit's presentation), this alone told me it could not
have been the parents," Russel said.
"(The parent) would have to start turning (the garrote) while the child is
grasping," Russel said. "There's probably tape over her mouth. She's alive
and squirming.
"That's sadistic intent. That's not the irrational anger you see in child
abuse."
El Paso Sheriff Anderson hired Smit to run the county's detective operation
after being elected in 1994. He calls Smit a "phenomenally gifted,
experienced, uniquely qualified violent crime detective," and supports him
in taking the intruder evidence public, a move typically frowned upon by law
enforcement.
This case is different, Anderson said, because a predator may be on the
loose and Boulder law enforcement isn't pursuing him. He calls Smit's
actions "very responsible."
Other supporters of Smit include Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Doberson,
who, like Smit, contends that a stun gun was used on JonBenet, and that the
blow to her head likely came just before death -- not long before as one
police theory suggests.
Steve Ainsworth, a Boulder County Sheriff's detective, and Trip DeMuth a
former assistant district attorney in Boulder, spoke on Smit's behalf on the
Today Show.
While declining to take a specific position on the JonBenet case, DeMuth
told the News that Smit "should be taken seriously." He called him the most
experienced investigator who worked the case.
"It's not only the fact that he has a tremendous amount of experience,"
DeMuth said. "He was amazingly successful in previous investigations. He has
probably a higher success rate than anyone else I know of."
"The world thinks the Ramseys did it," Smit said. "But if I'm right, there's
a very dangerous killer out there and no one's looking for the SOB."
Post #9 of the day
