Ex-JonBenet suspect's porn charges dropped

John Karr

LOS ANGELES - A California judge today dismissed five-year-old child pornography charges against John Mark Karr, the teacher arrested in August for the murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey and then released without charge.

Prosecutors in Sonoma County, in northern California, said they did not have enough evidence to proceed in the 2001 case and Karr was ordered released immediately.

Karr, 41, was extradited from Thailand in August after claiming responsibility for the 1996 murder in Colorado of Ramsey -- one of America's most notorious unsolved crimes.

But DNA evidence cleared him of involvement and he was then sent to California to answer outstanding charges of child pornography possession stemming from his time working as a teacher in Sonoma County.

Karr's arrest and details of his obsession with the JonBenet case triggered a worldwide media frenzy but ultimately left investigators no nearer determining who murdered her.

- REUTERS