Karr's first court appearance today

John Mark Karr, his international infamy fading into the realm of bizarre trivia since DNA evidence undid his claim that he killed JonBenet Ramsey, is to appear in Sonoma County court today in relation to old charges of possessing child pornography.

Karr, 41, briefly a substitute teacher in Petaluma and Napa in 2001, was extradited Tuesday to Sonoma County from Boulder, Colo., where he'd been jailed since Aug. 24, a week after his arrest in Thailand on suspicion of Ramsey's murder.

On Aug. 28, Boulder prosecutors, poised to charge him with murder and sexual assault in connection with the 1996 killing, dropped their case against Karr, saying his DNA didn't match samples taken from the Ramsey crime scene.

Today in Superior Court Judge Cerena Wong's courtroom, the arrest warrant issued after Karr skipped a 2001 court date is to be recalled. The process of setting a trial date will then go forward, said Assistant District Attorney Larry Scoufos.

"We're going to pick up where we left off," Scoufos said.

Karr's father, Wexford Karr, speaking from his Atlanta home, said, "We went through the worst, I guess, in Colorado."

Wexford Karr, 85, said he learned only from a reporter who called him from England that his son was moved to Sonoma County, and that they haven't spoken since a brief visit in the Boulder jail.

"The only thing we can do is wait for him to call us collect, and he hasn't been calling," he said. Asked what he would say to his son, he said, "I don't know that there's much you can say - 'I love you, John.'"

In Sonoma County, John Karr is charged with five misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography. Sheriff's deputies in 2001 found computer images at Karr's Petaluma home that they say show children in sexual situations.

Karr's attorneys have demanded a speedy trial, meaning prosecutors have until Oct. 5 to begin trial. If Karr is released on bail - something his attorneys concede is unlikely - prosecutors would have an additional 15 days to start trial.

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua has said that because Karr spent six months in custody in 2001, he probably won't face much more jail time, but if he's convicted, he would be required to register as a sex offender for life.

Sheriff's detectives have reopened the investigation to determine if more evidence may be recoverable from Karr's computers seized five years ago, but in a statement issued Wednesday, Passalacqua said Karr faces only the original five counts.

Asked if the reopened investigation has produced additional evidence that may be used against Karr, Scoufos said only that: "We're starting to look again at the evidence we have, and it's conceivable we could find new evidence up to the time the case is resolved."

He said the District Attorney's Office does not have a laptop computer seized from Karr in Thailand, a computer Boulder authorities said was given to Sonoma County authorities as evidence in their case.

Television crews converged on the Sonoma County Jail on Wednesday, but the story's profile has dimmed along with Karr's credibility.

In Atlanta, at the height of the media storm, the crush of reporters on Wexford Karr's street caused some of his neighbors to leave home, he said.

"I hadn't realized what went on in the world," he said. "I'm 85 and hadn't realized what a show it is, the media."

Also on Wednesday, some longtime former Sonoma County prosecutors said they couldn't recall a district attorney going to the lengths that Passalacqua has in extraditing someone facing misdemeanor charges.

"In my tenure with the office, no misdemeanor defendant was ever extradited, and some felonies were not brought back," said Kathy Knott, who retired in August after 20 years as a prosecutor.

Asked if Passalacqua would have moved to extradite if Karr had not attained such notoriety, Scoufos said, "It depends."

If it were someone with "the exact same background as this guy - someone who was a teacher, who had access to children - I would say we'd have made the same decision," he said.