JonBenet Ramsey’s older brother, Burke Ramsey, is headed back to court after a defendant named in his multi-million dollar lawsuit claimed everything he said about Burke during a CBS documentary was “free speech.”
In October, Burke filed a defamation lawsuit against forensic pathologist Dr Werner Spitz for $150 million. Spitz gave a controversial interview during the CBS documentary, The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, and accused Burke of murdering JonBenet. According to Spitz’s theory, it was Burke himself who killed his little sister in 1996, on Christmas Day.
JonBenet Ramsey’s brother Burke back in court for lawsuit https://t.co/z8bKYpyazs
— Irish Sun (@IrishSunOnline) February 2, 2017
“It’s the boy who did it, whether he was jealous, or mentally unfit or something … I don’t know of the why, I’m not a psychiatrist, but what I am sure about is what I know about him, that is what happened here.”
In December, Spitz filed a response to Burke’s lawsuit, requesting that it be thrown out since his theory was merely “speculation.”
“Dr. Spitz expressed his own view — as the First Amendment affords him the right to do — but his speculations, even if firmly held and confidently expressed, are not statements of fact,” the response stated.
On Tuesday, Burke apparently headed back to court again after Spitz claimed he is allowed to theorize about the case under free speech. Burke’s lawyer, however, stated that Spitz is backpedaling and using any excuse he can to avoid facing responsibility.
‘[Spitz is] seeking to avoid responsibility for his false accusations against Burke by contending that he was simply expressing his opinion and that his accusation is subjective and not capable of being proven true or false….Spitz’s statements that he is sure that Burke was JonBenet’s killer are now self-servingly misrepresented as subjective statements that cannot, as a matter of law, be interpreted to convey statements that assert provable facts.”
RELATED: JonBenét Ramsey Lawsuit: Brother Burke Ramsey sues CBS for $750 million
Since 1996, numerous theories sprang up regarding who killed JonBenet, but Burke’s lawyer recently made it clear that anyone in the media who continued to say his client was guilty would face a lawsuit.
“Burke successfully sued every member of the tabloid media who accused him in 1998 and 1999 of killing his sister. For the last 17 years, no one has been foolish enough to repeat that false accusation until Spitz chose to do so in the WWJ radio interview and with CBS in September of 2016.”
[Feature Photo: AP/Ric Feld, File]
