Miz Adventure,
You could be right. The indictment is so specific, right down to the parents neglecting JonBenet and leaving her at risk, engendering the child abuse accusation.
Here is the ones relating to John:
You have to wonder what does this mean: placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child's life or health ?
Like the R's version of events has JonBenet safe in bed yet the GJ are saying oh no guys, you exposed JonBenet to mortal risk, how so, who told them?
There is obviously much more to be revealed. I'll bet insiders have some of the gossip on the case?
.
A lay interpretation would be:
JR allowed JBR to be in a situation that could reasonably be foreseen as likely to cause serious harm to JBR.
A
person’s conduct results in the murder of JBR.
JR intentionally aided and abetted the murderer to cover up their crime.
For JR, likewise read PR.
I do not claim working knowledge of the American criminal justice system or interpretations of common law. However, I do understand legal process in England, Wales and N.I. in relation to points to prove by police in criminal offences and elements required for charges to be laid by the Crown Prosecution Service. In England, the indictments as presented would be charges determined by the common law doctrine of joint (criminal) enterprise.
In English law, a party under the age of 10 cannot be charged with a offence as they do not have the capacity for criminal responsibility i.e. they can have intent, but they cannot judge right and wrong. Under joint enterprise, if an adult (accessory) incites a minor or person without capacity to commit a crime, then the adult can be charged as the Principal to the crime. The involved minor does not need to be identified, charged or convicted.
So one fact does seem clear to me. If BR was believed to have committed the murder in combination with either or both parents, then under common law the parent/s could have been indicted for murder, but they weren't. So BR might be the
person and Kolar is right, BDI all. PR and JR either have prior knowledge of BR behaviours or leave the children unattended etc, and after BDI does all (the
person) JR and PR cover up for BR.
However, if I had seen these charges in an English court, I would not have assumed the involvement of a
third person. Rather, I would surmise that it was impossible to determine who from PR and JR was the Principal and who the Accessory to the
murder, therefore lesser charges were laid down against both parties.
However, in the UK the
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 now means that all parties involved in the offence of causing or allowing the death or serious injury of a child under the age of 16 or of a vulnerable adult
can be charged as Principals if it cannot be determined that they played a lesser role. It is proving to be effective, resulting in fewer of those cases involving child abuse and deaths were the involved parties fail to give accounts of what had happened - “no comment/don’t know/can’t remember/nothing happened”.
Sound familiar?
I have read interpretations of the Indictments, and they do not seem far removed from my understanding of what they
could mean in English law. The principles are the same. However, I am willing to be corrected and informed by anyone with U.S. C.J. knowledge.
Like everyone else, I am curious as to the other indictments that were presented and presumably did not achieve GJ concurrence to be passed as True Bills. (We no longer have this system, but it is based on Ye Olde England Courts…

Clearly, the missing indictments were not against BR, as he is a minor.
If anyone would find it helpful, I am happy to provide a summarised version of the (many pages of) guidance police and CPS use in England when considering Joint Enterprise charges. I promise not to cherry-pick parts that support any particular R theory/prejudice. As already noted, my interpretation of the indictments goes against my current BDI thinking on the case!
Likewise, I would be very thankful if anyone can post or provide a link to joint enterprise/child endangerment legislation in force in Colorado in 1996. Oh, and anything on the US Family Court system.
If it was BDI and Hunter knew this, there must have been a sealed hearing.
In England those involving minors take place in a family court.