Lawyer’s claim the JonBenet Ramsey documentary wrongly accused her brother Burke

CRITICS have slammed the CBS documentary conclusion that JonBenet’s brother Burke was behind her murder.

THE criminal defence lawyer who represented Lindy Chamberlain has slammed the CBS JonBenet Ramsey documentary — labelling the series “disgusting,” “offensive” and a complete “travesty”.

The final instalment of the CBS documentary, titled The Case of JonBenet Ramsey, went to air across Australia last night, and all fingers were left pointing at one person. Her older brother, Burke.

“Right from the start they concentrated on members of the family,” Stuart Tipple, who represented Lindy Chamberlain in the most famous of Australian murder trials in the 1980s. Mr Tipple now works in a legal practice on the NSW Central Coast.

“Having a group of psychiatrists and psychologists is the biggest problem for investigators. They went into this with an agenda — and that was the killer had to be from the family, which was very clear from the start.

“When you don’t approach with an open mind, you have a ready made judgment, and because of this there was an unfair bias around the family.”

The Case of JonBenet Ramsey alluded to the idea that Patsy and John Ramsey covered up JonBenet’s murder. Picture: Splash News Australia

The experts within the dramatic documentary, including FBI profiler Jim Clemente, forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee, former chief investigator James Kolar and leading forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitzall claimed the then nine-year-old brother was the most likely suspect in this sister’s shocking murder, and that his parents — Patsy and John — were behind the cover up.

While the investigators that were on the panel stressed her death was the result of a tragic accident, critics are now questioning whether the docoseries did infract tell the whole story — or instead create a witch hunt that resulted in the naming of Burke Ramsey.

Defence lawyer, Stuart Tipple, who was one of the longest serving members of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain's defence team, said the documentary was a complete travesty and he feels very sorry for Burke Ramsey.

“The family were tried by media, and that is incredibly effective,” Mr Tipple said.

“The worldwide audience means it’s given him a worse reputation than if he had actually been tried.

“I feel really angry about it, it’s a complete travesty and I feel very sorry for him.”

Some critics, including Mr Tipple said the documentary failed to provide sufficient evidence about why Burke was to blame, instead misleading viewers with their reinvestigation into who killed JonBenet.

The lawyer for the Ramsey family, L Lin Wood, said that he had sued other television outlets for having similar accusations towards Burke, and the CBS documentary will be no different.

“I will be filing a lawsuit on behalf of Burke Ramsey,” Mr Wood told ABC News.

“CBS’ false and unprofessional attacks on this young man are disgusting and revolting.”

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain leave court with their solicitor Stuart Tipple (R) during the 1982 murder trial. Mr Tipple was disgusted by the JonBenet Ramsey documentary.

The first problem with the documentary started with the analysis on the 911 call made by Patsy Ramsey.

In the CBS reinvestigation, the panel experts reinterpret the audio towards the end of the call, where Mrs Ramsey puts down the phone to hang up — but it fails to disconnect.

The audio, which is muffled, was recorded by the operator on the other line.

The inaudible voices which can be heard faintly in the background, were tested by modern audio technology to determine how many voices were present — and what they said.

Mr Clemente and behavioural analyst Laura Richards sat and listened intently to the audio, with subtitles popping up to sway viewers into hearing what they believe they heard.

The experts involved in the CBS documentary came to the conclusion that Burke Ramsey was the most probable person behind JonBenet’s death. Picture: Splash News.

While some viewers took to Twitter and questioned the subtitles and audio not matching up, Mr Clemente assured the doubters that “in the headphones it was incredibly clear,” alluding viewers to trust what he and Richards could hear.

Mr Tipple said the fact the audience couldn’t actually hear the phone conversation the way the experts could was “typical confirmation bias”, which is the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities.

“The audio is what really made me angry with this documentary,” Mr Tipple said.

“This was typical confirmation bias, and the subtitles swayed viewers. It was theatre. All you heard was them making an interpretation. The viewer should’ve heard exactly what they heard.”

The problem with this is that the pair failed to properly disclose that what they heard is exactly what Aerospace Corporation’s analysis made of the audio in 1997. In fact, according to the Rolling Stone Magazine — Richards and Clementes’ analysis was “word for word” what the AS reported in local newspaper, The Daily Camera — which was that Burke could be heard in the background.

Meeting of the Minds, L-R: James Kolar, Dr Werner Spitz, James Fitzgerald, Laura Richards, Dr Henry Lee, Jim Clemente, Stan Burke who were the experts involved in CBS documentary The Case of JonBenet Ramsey. Picture: Neil Jacobs/CBS

“Those sources say enhancement of the tape reveals Burke’s voice in the background, asking his parents ‘What did you find?’,” the Aerospace Corporation’s paper writes.

“John Ramsey allegedly can be heard shouting to Burke, ‘We are not talking to you,’ and Patsy shouts ‘Oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus.’”

This is what Clemente and Richards concluded in their analysis as well, meaning it’s not clear if and how their analysis is new or more advanced than what was done previously.

“How unconvincing to have two experts who already knew what they were going to hear, interpret it,” Mr Tipple said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you gave it to 20 experts and come out with 20 different opinions. They should’ve allowed others to hear what they were hearing.”

During the final instalment of Dr Phil McGraw’s three-part interview with Burke Ramsey, the now 29-year-old slammed any accusation that he was to blame for his sister’s death.

“Did you do anything to harm your sister JonBenet,” Dr Phil McGraw asked during the final episode of the three-part series.

“No,” Mr Ramsey responded.

“Did you murder your sister JonBenet,” the TV host pushed.

“No,” her brother answered.

Burke Ramsey speaks on Dr Phil, during a three part sit-down interview. Picture: Dr Phil

Dr Phil then touched on the theory that Burke’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, staged an elaborate cover up to protect their only remaining child.

“I don’t know what to say to that, because I know that’s not what happened. There’s been people who have said that it’s not even possible for a nine-year-old to do that,” he answered.

Critics suggested Mr Ramsey’s relaxed rather perplexing, almost happy demeanour during the interview was because he got away with murder, but Dr Phil was quick to jump to his defence — saying it was nothing more than a “nervous” tic.

Burke Ramsey — JonBenet Ramsey's brother speaks to Dr Phil, where he often smiled during details of her death. Picture: Dr Phil

“Everyone needs to put themselves in the position of Burke,” Mr Tipple added.

“How would they feel if this documentary had happened to them?

“This destroys presumption of innocence. Imagine being tried after being subjected to that series. There’s not enough in the system for this not to happen again, and it really disturbs me.”

The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey, a two-part series re-examining the sensational unsolved murder of a child beauty queen, can be viewed on 9 Now.