No Ramsey special prosecutor
By Judith Kohler
The Associated Press
DENVER — Gov. Bill Owens
said Wednesday he has decided
not to appoint a special prosecu
tor to look into the JonBenet Ram
sey slaying, saying police are
working with new evidence and
headed in the right direction.
Owens also had strong words
for the little girl’s parents, John
and Patsy Ramsey, asking them to
“stop hiding behind their attor
neys” and return to Colorado to
help authorities solve the case.
“To the killers, let me say this:
You only think you have gotten
away with murder. There is
strong evidence to suggest who
you are,” Owens said. “I think in
vestigators are moving closer to
proving their case. They will keep
pursuing you. You will reap what
you have sown.”
The Ramseys, who moved to
the Atlanta area after the killing,
have insisted they are innocent.
Denver legal analyst Andrew
Cohen said the governor’s refer
ences to the killers was the
strongest accusation yet against
the Ramseys. He called it a
“cheap shot.”
“I don’t think anyone, even a
governor,, should be allowed to
accuse people of doing some
thing, which they have a constitu
tional right to do, which is hide
behind their lawyers,” Cohen
said.
Two weeks ago, a Boulder
County grand jury completed a
13-month investigation of the
1996 slaying without issuing any
indictments. District Attorney
Alex Hunter said there was not
enough evidence to charge any
one, although he and police said
the Ramseys remain under suspi
cion.
Owens also asked a seven
member task force to recommend
whether a special prosecutor
should be appointed. The group
was made up of a former Col
orado Supreme Court chief jus
tice; Owens’ chief legal counsel; a
deputy attorney general and four
district attorneys.
On Tuesday, Owens said he
had decided that investigators
were on the right track and were
analyzing “substantial new evi
dence.”
Owens acknowledged that ini
tial mistakes harmed the probe.
Critics have claimed the investi
gation was compromised when
detectives allowed the Ramseys
and friends to roam through their
mansion in Boulder.
“The conduct of the initial
Ramsey investigation was far
from perfect,” Owens acknowl
edged. “There can be little doubt
that the Ramsey case will be hard
er to prove in court because of the
initial mistakes.”
He added: “The killers in the
case made some very serious mis
takes, but they’re also very smart.
They have stonewalled very effec
tively and they have covered their
tracks well.”
Early on Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy
Ramsey told police she found a
ransom note demanding
$118,000 for her daughter’s safe
return. Eight hours later, Jon
Benet’s father said he found his
daughter’s body in the basement.
The governor declined com
ment on whether the Ramseys
had a role in their daughter’s
death.
“If I could speak to John and
Patsy Ramsey,” he said, “I would
tell them to quit hiding behind
their attorneys, come back to Col
orado and work with investiga
tors in this case, no matter where
that trail will lead.”
Hal Haddon, the Ramseys’
Boulder-based attorney, was in a
conference and not available for
comment.
Caviar crackdown lands importers in court
By Tom Hays
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — It’s a multimil
lion-dollar plot stretching from
Eastern Europe to the United
States. Another Russian money
laundering scandal? A heroin
ring?
No, it’s caviar — thousands of
pounds of Russian sturgeon roe
allegedly smuggled in suitcases,
bound for New York City’s’
gourmet stores.
Two businessmen are on trial
in Brooklyn federal court in a case
that highlights an international
endangered-species law and the
lucrative black market for the
world’s finest fish eggs.
Eugeniusz Koczuk, the 48-year
old owner of an import company
called Gino International, and his
associate Wieslaw Rozbicki, 37,
are the first people to be prosecut
ed under new provisions in the
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species.
They could get five years in
prison and be forced to forfeit $2
million if convicted.
Prosecutors say the caviar the
men imported was a protected
wildlife product that should have
been declared to the proper agen
cies.
Defense attorneys call the case
overkill and say their clients are
honest importers caught in a com
plex regulatory web. Rozbicki is
“bewildered and feeling quite
overwhelmed by all of this,” said
his lawyer, Roger Adler.
Under provisions of the endan
gered species agreement, which
involves the United States and
142 other countries, three types of
Caspian Sea sturgeon were added
to a list of threatened animals.
For centuries, the sturgeons’
eggs have been harvested to pro
duce prized beluga caviar, as well
as lower-grade sevruga and osetra
caviar.
Since last April, anyone carry
ing more than a half-pound of
caviar into the United States must
produce permits showing it was
legally harvested. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service also has be
gun DNA-testing caviar ship
ments to make sure they really
contain the premium varieties
like beluga, which retails for
about $80 an ounce in the United
States.
The regulations are aimed re
versing a 70 percent drop in the
population of Caspian Sea stur
geon over the last 20 years.
Before the rules went into effect
last year, the Fish and Wildlife
Service held a seminar for im
porters and retailers. Koczuk and
Rozbicki, who worked out of
Koczuk’s Connecticut home,
signed up.
But investigators say they ig
nored the restrictions and instead
paid off-duty Polish airline em
ployees $500 each to smuggle tins
of Caspian caviar in their luggage
on flights from Poland to New
York.
Records show the company
sold 19,000 pounds of caviar for
millions of dollars between April
and November of 1998. During
that period, the defendants re
ceived permission to import only
88 pounds, prosecutors said.
fl
Monroe’s dresses up for auction
By Karen Matthews
The Associated Press
NEW YORK— Thirty-seven
years after her death, Marilyn
Monroe grabbed the spotlight
again Wednesday at an auction
featuring her furs, hundreds of
books and the form-fitting, flesh
colored dress she wore to sere
nade President Kennedy in 1962.
The dress, so tight she had to be
sewn into it and made of silk souf
fle gauze and covered with 6,000
rhinestone beads and sequins, was
expected to draw the most spirited
bidding; it originally cost $12,000.
Monroe wore it during her breath
less rendition of “Happy Birth
day” to JFK at Madison Square
Garden.
Christie’s senior vice president
Nancy Valentino billed the two
day sale as “possibly the last and
most lavish celebrity auction of
the millennium.”
Several other Monroe dresses—
including a racy scarlet halter
dress, an ivory crepe evening
sheath worn to the premiere of
“Some Like It Hot,” and a black se
quined dress believed to have
been worn to entertain U.S. sol
diers in Korea in 1954 — were ex
pected to fetch between $20,000
and $50,000.
Christie’s had estimated the JFK
dress would fetch a price in the
“high six-figure” range.
Other items to be auctioned,
most of them in storage for nearly
four decades, included a dia
mond-encrusted platinum eterni
ty ring from Joe DiMaggio that was
expected to bring more than
$30,000, and 400 books from her
private library.
They also include mementos
from her marriages.
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