Summary: Burke Ramsey’s lawsuit against CBS will move forward in court.
Burke Ramsey said that he did not kill JonBenet Ramsey, and he is suing CBS for alleging otherwise. In December 2016, he sued the network for airing a documentary series that claimed he murdered his beauty pageant sister, and he is seeking $750,000,000.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled that the case can move forward. Burke alleged that CBS ruined his reputation after they had law enforcement experts go on air and conclude that he had murdered, JonBenet.
CBS had filed a dismissal, but Judge David Groner from Michigan denied the request, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Burke is suing CBS and the experts who appeared on air.
JonBenet Ramsey was a 6-year-old blonde beauty queen who mysteriously died in 1996. She was found in the basement of her family’s Colorado home. Investigators had never been able to solve the murder case, and in September of 2016, CBS aired a documentary series that alleged Burke, then 9, had killed JonBenet by accident and their parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, had faked a kidnapping to protect their son.
The two-part series, “The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey,” was seen by millions of people, and Burke said that the false narrative had ruined his life.
In the dismissal filed by CBS, the network argued that the expert opinions were not presented as fact, and they said they had included a disclaimer that the crime was unsolved and that the theories presented were only that–theories. Judge Groner, however, said that the presentation could cause a reasonable person to believe the opinions were fact. He also said that adding a disclaimer did not negate the defamation that Burke experienced.
Burke’s attorney, L. Lin Wood told The Hollywood Reporter that the case was now moving to factual discovery. Wood said that Burke Ramsey is innocent and that the documentary was “fake” and a “knowing fraud on the viewing public.”
CBS said that if the case were to move ahead, they looked forward to defending themselves in court.
“This very preliminary procedural ruling was issued prior to any evidence being presented. It is based solely on the plaintiff’s complaint. Should the case move forward, we look forward to defending it on its merits,” CBS stated.
According to Fox News, a prosecutor had already exonerated Burke and his parents of any wrongdoing based on DNA evidence.
The Daily Camera said that John Ramsey has filed his own defamation lawsuit against CBS and the defendants named in his son’s lawsuit.
In 2006, Patsy Ramsey had died of ovarian cancer.
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