Rita Johnsen from Arendal was a jury leader 20 years ago in the Baneheia case and was involved in sentencing Viggo Kristiansen to 21 years in prison. Today, she finds it all hard to fathom. – The whole thing is terrible. A child murder remains unsolved, says the former jury leader. Rita Johnsen was jury leader in the Baneheia case. She thinks it’s all terrible today Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn / NTB She emphasizes that she is happy that Viggo Kristiansen had the criminal case reopened as the prosecution has concluded that he is innocent. But she finds it incomprehensible that they ended up sentencing Kristiansen, when today they sit with the conclusion. – I think it’s terrible. Now I hope that there will be a new trial. On Friday, it became known that the Attorney General believes that the evidence in the case is not sufficient to prosecute Kristiansen, and that he should be acquitted. The Attorney General believes Viggo Kristiansen should be acquitted in the Baneheia case Serious omissions – What do you think today about what has happened? – It seems as if there have been serious lapses. I think that is horrible, says Rita Johnsen. 20 years ago, the 12 jury members sat together in the Agder Court of Appeal to decide the fate of Viggo Kristiansen. He was sentenced to 21 years in custody for the rape and murder of two girls in Baneheia in 2000. Today, the jury leader admits that there were doubts in the process of reaching a verdict. – When it is not obvious what has happened and there are conflicting explanations, it is clear that there are doubts along the way. Viggo Kristiansen was released from Ila prison and detention center on 1 June last year. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen/news She remembers well the uncertainty that prevailed while the trial went on for several weeks. – Along the way, we assessed one side against the other side. In the end, there was a conviction that what we came up with was the right thing, says Johnsen. The uncertainty has troubled them. news has been in contact with almost all surviving jury members. Only the foreman of the jury will be interviewed, but several express that the case has troubled them for many years. – The uncertainty has been the worst, says one who felt pain inside when the acquittal was a fact before the weekend. Thor Løvjomås sat on the jury. 20 years ago he experienced the work as serious Photo: news Thor Løvjomås from Froland sat on the jury and allowed himself to be interviewed about the jury work 20 years ago. At the time he replied: – It is quite a big responsibility to be involved in judging a person in such a serious case. You have to be very sure that what you are doing is right. I don’t want to use the term burdensome, but it has been serious for me. Today, Thor Løvjomås does not want to be interviewed by news, but we think it’s okay to use the quote from 2002. None of the surviving jury members want to be interviewed 20 years after the verdict Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn / NTB – Thought we did the right thing The jury was also on inspection in Baneheia and several say the impressions from the trial stay with them to this day. Despite the doubts, the jury foreman believes that the verdict 20 years ago is based on the information of the time. When asked if she regrets the verdict, Rita Johnsen replies: – No, we thought we did the right thing. We did not have the information that we now have. Sitting 20 years later wondering “why did we think that way, and why did we consider that way”, that is an impossible task. After much deliberation, we thought we had arrived at the right result.
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– Hoping for a new trial – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
