Charges dropped: Prosecutors could not prove that Karr had used a computer containing pornographic images. [File photo]
Last Update: Friday, October 6, 2006. 10:09am (AEST)

Ex-JonBenet suspect's child porn charges dropped

Former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr has been cleared of child pornography charges in the United States after prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to go ahead with a trial.

Prosecutors at the Sonoma Supreme Court in northern California said the charges would have to be dropped after they decided they could not prove the 41-year-old had used a computer pivotal to the case.

"I don't think this case should have ever been brought, based on the evidence," Mr Karr's attorney Rob Amparan told reporters after the hearing.

"I feel tired, relieved, happy for my client and for justice."

Mr Karr, who earned worldwide media attention in August after he dramatically confessed to the 1996 murder six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, had been accused of possessing child porn in charges that dated back to 2001.

He was sent to California to face the five-year-old charges after DNA tests in Colorado ruled him out as a suspect in the Ramsey case, following his much-publicised extradition from Thailand.

The child-porn case had been riddled with problems since court proceedings began.

Prosecutors last week revealed the computer on which Mr Karr was alleged to have stored pornographic images in 2001 had been lost.

The court allowed the case to proceed after prosecutors said they had recovered a back-up hard drive containing the key evidence.

But prosecutors acknowledged they could not prove that Mr Karr had actually used the computer in the year before it was seized from his home, following testimony from his ex-wife.

- AFP