They weren’t released because they ate typically statutorily sealed. See
2020 Colorado Revised Statutes :: Title 13 - Courts And Court Procedure :: Article 73. Statewide Grand Juries :: Section 13-73-107. Return of indictment or presentment - designation of venue consolidation of indictments - sealing of indictment.
“(2) The court, upon motion of the attorney general, shall order the indictment to be sealed and no person may disclose the existence of the indictment until the defendant is in custody or has been admitted to bail except when necessary for the issuance or execution of a warrant or summons.”
No, they couldn’t. They don’t bring or dismiss charges, DAs do. They could have issued a no true bill, (which they apparently did for 8 of the 12 potential charges), but not dismissed them.
But that does NOT mean that there was enough evidence to ‘win’ a trial. A grand jury’s burden of proof is ‘probable cause’. A trial jury’s burden is ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. So while there may have been enough evidence to convince a grand jury there was smoke, that does not mean there was enough to convince a trial jury taht there was fire.
The Ramsey grand jurors who have commented on their experience over the years have basically all said that they understood why Hunter didn’t bring the case to trial.
I have difficulty believing some known or unknown intruder is the killer, but I can also believe that as intriguing/compelling/incomprehensible much of the evidence and/or the Ramseys’ behavior seems, that it still doesn’t rise to the level of ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’. To this day, the DNA/UM1 situation alone guarantees that.
