KoldKase, I'm sure you know the answer to this question and it has been bothering me for a long time. If LE determined the killer to be BR, how would we ever know the case was closed? I know they cannot name him because of his age at the time. I don't believe BR is the culprit, but this is one of the things about this case that has bothered me a great deal.
It's an interesting question, and I can only speculate because I'm not a lawyer nor a legal scholar.
But using the Michael Skakel case as an example, though that all happened in another state, and laws vary from state to state, here are some thoughts I have about it.
The DA would have to decide whether to try to charge the case in juvenile court, though that might not even be possible since Burke was a month short of turning ten, the absolute cut off at that time for committing a crime. (Skakel was either 14 or 15 at the time of Martha Moxley's murder.)
So if that were not even possible in Boulder, my guess is that somehow the case would then be given a status of "closed", even though it would in all probability be sealed, as well.
Now, whether the DA would do that, considering that it wouldn't be hard for the public to draw the correct inference, I don't know.
If not, then we would never know, would we? Unless someone inside LE there leaked it. And that would probably be risking job and career, as no doubt it would be a firestorm equal to the 14 years of enmity in this case.
On the other hand, Michael Skakel was eventually tried--and convicted--in an adult court and has been in prison for something like 9 years or so since. The judge who made the final decision to try Skakel in an adult court based that essentially upon a reality: he couldn't be remanded to a juvenile facility if he were convicted. This has been appealed, along with other issues, but Skakel is still in prison.
The Moxley family, while happy and relieved to finally know the truth about who murdered Martha and get some measure of justice, have noted that had Skakel not been protected by his family and the crime covered up by them and LE for so long, he would probably have gotten a few years in a juvenile detention, mental health treatment, and have been released at 18 and gone on to live a more productive life and certainly not end up in prison for something like 25 years with his own son growing up without a father.
Another parallel between that case and this one: the Skakels were very rich, even connected by marriage and blood to the Kennedys. They worked that to subvert justice for many years in this case. The Kennedys also showed up in court for their cousin, some think to impress the jury and get him off. They have continued to campaign on his behalf and even have spent a couple of decades making miserable the life of the poor tutor/nanny newly hired and moved in that fateful October, a man they have used as their "intruder" so long he has literally been mentally ill with the stress and suspicion that has dogged his life.
Anyway, I guess the issue is whether Boulder LE would follow the law and protocol for disposing a juvenile case or decide to use the resources and maybe even make law on it, if Burke were the one who committed these acts.
Or maybe it would be easier and cheaper just to let it hang in limbo for all time.
These are my thoughts. I'd like to hear what a lawyer or legal scholar had to say on it, though.
I believe I read a few years ago that Colorado changed the legal age for being charged with a crime, though. I think I read it is now 9 yrs. of age, particularly in a crime like murder. I hope I'm not misremembering that. Whether that could play a part in this crime, I don't know. The laws had changed in Skakel's state since the time of the murder, lowering the legal age limit for committing a crime within his age range at the time he killed Moxley. Before that law was changed, Skakel actually was too young to be charged as an adult, but the judge didn't really let that influence the decision to try him as an adult for the aforementioned reason. It's a very unusual case, and Skakel has received no slack by the legal system in it once he was finally charged.
In fact, it was a right miracle that brought him to justice at all. That miracle started with Dominique Dunne writing a book of fiction based on the actual case. It scared the family so bad, the father hired PIs to do some investigating and they, oddly enough, got the Skakel brothers to talk about the night of the murder and had it written up in a transcript by someone they hired, but forgot to sign to secrecy. That young man, so incensed at the truth that came out in those interviews, secretly sent copies of the documents to Dunne. Dunne then got them to none other than...Mark Furhman, who wrote his own non-fiction book; and that started a new investigation with new DAs who didn't want this political, legal, and moral stain on the state any longer.
So who knows...it may not be over. We just may not live long enough to see the end of this epic tragedy.
