John Mark Karr: despite the fact that he has been accused of multiple crimes he somehow managed to remain a free man.

Karr, 41, a former elementary school teacher, was facing imprisonment in Thailand on charges of child molestation, when he confessed to the “accidental” killing of JonBenet Ramsey. He was immediately extradited to the United States and managed the unforeseeable when, in September, he left the courthouse without a mark on his record.

The courts found that Karr could not have been the killer because the DNA found under JonBenet’s fingertips did not match Karr’s, and he had an alibi for the night she was killed. Clearly he only confessed to the killing to escape the inhumane treatment he would have suffered while unprotected in a Thai prison for being an accused child molester.

In 2001 he was also arrested and charged with five misdemeanors for child pornography, according to the state records in California. He was set free, but was to report to a probation officer to make sure he stayed away from schools, beaches and children. State records also reported that Karr lost his teaching credential in 2002, which he conveniently neglected to mention while teaching overseas over the past few years.

So he gets off for being a killer because evidence proved he obviously wasn’t, but then also managed to be let off for owning child pornography, because Boulder, Colo., investigators lost his computer, which possibly contained irrefutable evidence of this. Regardless of the reasons he walked free, he still owned child pornography, which is illegal.

According to the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the estimated 95,000 sex offenders in State prisons today, more than 60,000 most likely committed crimes against a child under 17. In another study, the results showed that 40 percent of child pornographers investigated have sexually molested children in the past. Statistics also show that sex offenders who molest young girls repeat their crimes at rates up to 25 percent.

Statistics from Computer Crime Research Center say 80 percent of child pornography purchasers are active child molesters. Therefore, according to statistics, Karr has a 25 percent chance of relapsing, also a 40 percent chance of having molested a child in the past and is four times as likely to get convicted again.

The fact that Karr, even with all of the points against him, still managed to manipulate the court system brings up another important question: Who else have the courts dismissed because of lost evidence? I mean, it seemed as though there was this underlying gut feeling that Karr should’ve been convicted because of his psychological state. No sane 41-year-old person admits to killing and being in love with a 6-year-old child.

Especially disturbing evidence found were the bizarre e-mails Karr sent to Michael Tracey, a professor at the University of Colorado, in 2005. On Christmas Eve 2005 he asked Tracey to do him a favor, which was to go and read this at the old Ramsey house: “JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness – this darkness that now separates us.”

This was only in-part the beginning of the shocking and disturbing e-mail correspondence between Karr and Tracey. However, the weird part in this all, the e-mails, although lurid and disapproving, still did not withstand judgment in the court.

Perhaps it was the media that indulged his fantasy and allowed this charade to continue well after the 10 years since JonBenet was murdered. But ultimately it was the legal system that was flawed for botching the case in the first place and losing a computer that contained information that could’ve convicted him.

However, applause to Karr. He got his fame, he manipulated the system and he is free. Free to go shopping, free to buy a six-pack of beer, free to spend a day at the park just like you and me. All in all, not such a bad deal for Karr.