"Chris Wolf on O'REILLY (5/1)"

Posted by New York Lawyer
on 11:55:15 4/30/2000

NOTE: This message was last edited 11:55:15, 4/30/2000

Chris Wolf will appear on the O'Reilly Factor on Monday, May 1st at 8 PM EDST (the show is repeated at 11 PM) on Fox Cable News. His attorney, Darnay Hoffman, will be appearing with him. They will be discussing Wolf's $50 million dollar lawsuit against the Ramseys.

13. "Transcript"

Posted by LizzieB
on 18:56:57 5/01/2000

O'Reilly Factor, Fox News
05.01.00
Host: Bill O'Reilly
Guests: Chris Wolfe and Darnay Hoffman

Transcribed for Justice Watch

B.O.: In the Unresolved Problem Segment tonight: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey. The cops can't solve the mystery, so now the case is being played out in books and in unproven accusations. In the Ramseys' book, The Death of Innocence, the couple writes about free-lance Denver journalist, Chris Wolfe: "Whatever the police's intentions, Wolf went on our suspect list. He represented too many unanswered questions." And during a Today Show interview, Katie Couric asked the Ramseys about Mr. Wolfe. Here's what John Ramsey said. ". . . he'd been widely mentioned in the news, and we wanted to clarify the facts that we knew. I can tell you - when we first started looking at - at one particular lead early on, my reaction was . . . this is it. This is the killer. And our investigator said, 'whoa, whoa, whoa,' he'd say 'don't do a Boulder police on me. Don't rush to conclusions.'"

With us now from Denver is Chris Wolfe, and here in the studio is his attorney, Darnay Hoffman, who has been a critic of the Ramseys all along. We must say that Mr. Wolfe is filing a major lawsuit against the Ramseys. Now, you have been cleared by the Boulder police, Mr. Wolfe. You're not a suspect in the case any longer, but you were a suspect in the beginning due to your girlfriend, and how did that happen and what did she say?

CW: I'm not sure exactly what she said, but it must have been something that . . . about me . . . regarding the murder of the little girl, which of course I had nothing to do with. I could never and would never do anything like that. But I think that she was angry with me and for personal reasons, I guess, as far as regarding our relationship, and I think that she wanted to make my life miserable, and I think that she succeeded.

BO: Why didn't you sue her, first of all?

CW: Well, we have a long history, and we were at one time very close friends. At this point I still have a great deal of sympathy for her and I don't have malice toward her, so I didn't want to . . .

BO: All right. So you've never met the Ramseys, never come into contact with the family at all?

CW: Never. Never heard of either of them or their daughter prior to the murder of the little girl.

BO: Were you anywhere near the house, was there any . . .

CW: No.

BO: Nothing.

CW: No.

BO: Now, when the police came to the door to ask you questions, what was your reaction?

CW: Well I was shocked and I was angry and I refused to answer questions initially. They first tried to interrogate me and asked me to give handwriting samples and such maybe like a month after the murder, and I refused. It wasn't until more than a year later that I heard from them again and they asked me - they called me at work and asked me to come to the police station to give handwriting and DNA and hair and palm prints, and of course a lot had happened in that period of time, and I was more inclined to cooperate with them at that point, which I did that afternoon. I went directly to the police station after work and provided them with a lengthy handwriting sample, hair and DNA samples, as well as palm prints. That's all they asked from me.

BO: All right. So the first time, would you chalk up the first refusal to being nervous or being . . .

CW: No, not nervous at all, but just outraged - just shocked that they would be interested in me. I have no criminal record and no history of any of these things, breaking and entering, sex with children, or violent act against any person. I've never committed any of those crimes or ever been accused of those crimes.

BO: All right, and we will tell the audience again that the Boulder police cleared you so that you don't have to worry about any recriminations from this broadcast. Now, counselor, you've filed this lawsuit against the Ramseys. How much is it for again?

DH: It's for fifty million dollars.

BO: Fifty million dollars!

DH: Twenty-five per parent.

BO: In New York instead of Colorado?

DH: Well, to begin with, Colorado really isn't the appropriate venue. Atlanta, Georgia, is the appropriate venue because the federal rules generally require you to file a suit where the defendants are located. However, there's a special problem here. In Atlanta, the legal community is so put off by this case that it's impossible to get an Atlanta lawyer to agree to appear as local counsel along with me on behalf of Chris Wolfe.

BO: Really? You can't get one Georgia lawyer?

DH: Couldn't find one. Now maybe one will come out of the woodwork at this point, but up until today I have not been able to find a single Georgia lawyer. And they all said, "Hey look, we have nothing against you as an attorney." Simply, this case is so ugly, so unpleasant, so vile, that they don't want to touch it in Atlanta.

BO: That's amazing! I mean, lawyers with ethics in Georgia (laughing) . . .you can't . . . I mean, somebody, somebody should be outraged about this guy, Chris. I mean, he's unjustly accused, it seems like, and he has a right to some redress of grievances. But the actual accusation took place in Colorado, and that's where the private investigators were hired to spy on him, right?

DH: Yeah, but a lot of the activity actually occurred in New York, particularly the most recent activity where the tapings for the book promotion were done at studios in New York City.

BO: Katie Couric and all that.

DH: Exactly. So you could certainly make the claim that the most recent activity has been in New York City. However, frequently when you can't go into a venue where you can get a fair trial for a client they move it out of state. They did that with the Oklahoma City bombing. It was moved to Denver.

BO: Yeah, I know, I know. I don't know whether they're going to throw this out or not in New York, but they probably will hear it, don't you think?

DH: Oh, they'll hear it, and there may be a - the most they'll do is transfer it into Atlanta for some attorney to basically . . .

BO: Well, after this broadcast I guarantee you you'll be hearing from an attorney because, you know, it seems to me that Mr. Wolfe has a very legitimate claim here. I wouldn't want that accusation leveled at me. Keep us posted will you, gentlemen, both of you?

THE END

16. "Thanks, LizzieB"

Posted by New York Lawyer
on 19:21:08 5/01/2000

Baby, you're the greatest! Thanks so much for providing such useful material. This transcript will probably wind up as an exhibit at trial. So please keep up the good work! Thanks again....