JonBenet Ramsey

BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- The man who was with John Ramsey when Ramsey found the body of his 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, is again urging that a special prosecutor to be appointed to take over the 20-month-old murder case.

"(Boulder District Attorney) Alex Hunter and those advising him have no intention of seeking an indictment from a grand jury," a letter to "the people of Colorado" charges.

The letter, written by Fleet and Priscilla White, who were neighbors and former friends of the parents of JonBenet Ramsey, criticized the Boulder District Attorney for delaying the investigation into the murder of the young beauty queen, whose body was found December 26, 1996.

The Whites made a similar plea to Colorado Gov. Roy Romer earlier this year, but Romer declined, according to The Denver Post.

In their latest plea, the couple wrote: "It is certain that the district attorney and his prosecutors have been greatly influenced by ... defense attorneys' chummy persuasiveness and threats of reprisals for anyone daring to jeopardize the civil rights of their victim clients."

Hunter has said he would like the case to go to a grand jury.

Patsy and John Ramsey

Last April, a new law allowed grand jury reports to be issued to the public if no indictment results from the investigation.

In their letter, the Whites accused Hunter of taking advantage of the law "which will, if an indictment is not returned, enable him to persuade a grand jury to issue a report telling the public that the case was delayed and that an indictment was not returned as a result of police misconduct and the noncooperation of witnesses."

"It will also enable (Hunter) to publicly exonerate anyone alleged to have murdered JonBenet Ramsey. If he wishes such a report to be made, and of course he does since it would contain precisely what he has been saying throughout the investigation, he must first cause the grand jury not to return an indictment."

"This, then, is how politics will have been allowed, finally to trump justice," the letter states.

"It is our firm belief that the district attorney and others intend to use the grand jury and its secrecy in an attempt to protect their careers and also serve the conflicting interests of powerful, influential, and threatening people who have something to hide or protect or who simply don't want to be publicly linked to a dreadful murder investigation."

During the course of his investigation, the Whites' letter said, the district attorney "has used inexplicable methods including the recruitment of magazine writers and tabloids to leak information concerning the case and to needle witnesses, 'suspects,' and police detectives."

White, who served as a pallbearer at the girl's funeral, urged Romer to appoint the state attorney general to take over the investigation.

"The people of Colorado are entitled to be frustrated and angry with those public officials and other persons who have brought this case to its current status. We must be mindful, however, of the first cause of the investigation's failure -- the refusal of John and Patsy Ramsey to cooperate fully and genuinely with those officially charged with investigating the death of their daughter, JonBenet."

A spokeswoman for Boulder District Attorney Hunter said she had no comment on the letter.

No comment was immediately available from the Boulder police department.

The Whites were among the friends the Ramseys called to their home after they discovered JonBenet missing the morning after Christmas 1996. Since then, the Whites and the Ramseys reportedly have had a bitter split in their friendship.