Will Karr Walk Free?

Sept. 27, 2006 — -- After John Mark Karr was cleared in the JonBenet Ramsey case, he traded his jail cell in Boulder, Colo., for one in Sonoma County, Calif.

In 2001, Karr was charged with five counts of possessing child pornography on his computer.

This week, however, the Sonoma County sheriff in a statement revealed: "While preparing to update our case, we discovered that a computer that stored the five pornographic images for which Karr had been charged was missing."

Karr's lawyers are expected to seek an order dismissing the case today.

"If this case is dismissed, John Karr will go free, and he will not be registered anywhere in the United States as a child sex offender," ABC News legal analyst Mary Fulginiti said.

"It's a hole for the defense to go in and really try to punch out … and they can raise doubt in the minds of the jurors," Fulginiti said.

It's a break for Karr, but some say a danger for those around him.

"There's a lot of people out there who are like Mr. Karr who are really not on sex offender registries, but who should not be in contact with children," said Glena Records of the Polly Klaas Foundation.

Karr's first wife, Quientana Ray, wishes the law had caught up with him long ago.

Ray was 13 years old when Karr wooed her.

"If the law would have done something about it, he would have had something on his record. … I would have had help. I could have told what happened to me, how I was drugged and things were done to me," Ray said.

While Karr could face up to five years in prison, a Sonoma County assistant district attorney has said the sentence is likely to be just one year.

Because Karr has already served almost eight months awaiting trial both in 2001 and 2006, he's not likely to spend much additional jail time if convicted.

Karr is currently being held on $200,000 bail.

His trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 2.