Today Show - Tuesday, March 23, 1999

This was copied from the Boulder News Forum

Today Show Transcript - Alex Hunter

muni - 08:24am Mar 23, 1999 MST
Murphy believes an intruder killed JonBenet.

Alex Hunter interviewed by Dan Abrams for the Today Show.

AH: They have been meeting on a fairly regular basis. There are four of us that are their legal advisers and we do their bidding in the sense that they tell us… We make suggestions but they tell us the direction they want us to go in what I think is a SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH in this case.

DA: You talked about following protocol in there and the implication was that protocol wasn't followed.

AH: What I was saying here is that I don't think any of us across the land are prepared for the kind of case this case represents. We had protocols, critical instance response plans, we had this, we had that, but we were not ready at the moment in the critical phase to follow steps and we've had to do some catch up.

DA: Did the not following protocol lead to mistakes?

AH: I don't want to speak to that at this time. As I said in my remarks, I think there will be a time to talk about things we could have done better. Now is not the time. Frankly, looking back over everything, I think we had some excellent police work in this case.

DA: Even the first day?

AH: Well I don't want to get into minute detail of that, at a later time, yes.

DA: Let me ask you a question about the media. When you said you didn't close the door for example to a tabloid reporter who may have some information.


muni - 08:27am Mar 23, 1999 MST (#2 of 15)
Murphy believes an intruder killed JonBenet.

AH: I have not closed the door to ANYBODY. Any piece of information from any reporter, any citizen, any internet person has been logged into our system. I don't think any information door can be closed and that means all information. And there's some risk there and I think that risk needs to be taken. Although there are times when I'm angry with a short either direct on or, as I mentioned in there, below the belt, it's part of the game.

DA: What about the allegations that you've been too soft on the Ramseys, that the Ramseys should have been arrested, that Alex Hunter has prevented them from being arrested, that Alex Hunter has been protecting them


muni - 08:32am Mar 23, 1999 MST (#4 of 15)
Murphy believes an intruder killed JonBenet.

AH: You know, Henry Lee once said to me -- he said Alex, LIBERTY BIG COST.


muni - 08:36am Mar 23, 1999 MST (#6 of 15)
Murphy believes an intruder killed JonBenet.

AH: I think the public will accept me playing by the rules even if things seem to be moving slowly for them. Point of fact, some cases take a long time to solve. The worst thing that could happen is that somebody move prematurely before it's ripe or as Lee would say, before the rice is cooked, and I won't do that – Even at the cost of frustrating or angering some citizens… I'm NOT going to do that.

DA: And, for those who blame you directly for the delays?

AH: Hey, I said in there, this ain't bean bag… This is a tough game and I'm going to play by the rules. I'm not going to move until I feel it's the time to move.

DA: Is this case going to be solved?

AH: You know, I'm not going to take your bait on that, I will say this - - I believe the people working on this case, the lawyers, the police officers, are doing their best, are missing no stones on purpose, we're turning everything, we're working as hard as we can, we're giving it what we think the community deserves - - that's our best shot at it and we're not going to quit on it.


Webmaster: This is not a complete transcript.