Photographer JonBenét Ramsey’s child pornography conviction overturned

A photographer who took photos of JonBenét Ramsey Just months before she was found dead in her Colorado home, she won a major legal victory… as the Oregon State Supreme Court overturned her child sex conviction.

Here’s the deal… Randall D. Simons was arrested in November 2019 after officers accused him of “regularly accessing images of child pornography” on a public Wi-Fi network at a local A&W restaurant, according to local reports. He was convicted in 2021 of 15 counts of inciting child sexual abuse in the first degree.

Simons took his case to the state Supreme Court…which found that the year-long police investigation into him violated his right to privacy under the Oregon State Constitution.

The Court ruled that the state constitution protects citizens’ right to privacy…a right that Simons still possessed, even after he agreed to A&W’s terms of service – which prohibited the transmission of obscene materials and illegal activities and allowed the company to cooperate with law enforcement.

The Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled that the case must now be sent back to the Lane County Circuit Court…which must now consider how to suppress certain evidence in light of the higher court’s decision.

To be clear…Simons’ arrest and conviction had nothing to do with JonBenét Ramsey. Photos he took of her in 1996 – which he sold in 1997 after her mysterious death – showed her fully dressed in pageant attire.

The photos actually sparked criticism of children’s pageants at the time…and, according to the Associated Press, Simons said at the time of the controversy that he would never work again.