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Hearing tomorrow in Colorado case; prosecutors may have known alternate suspect
Posted: August 22, 2007 12:54 pm
Two former Colorado prosecutors involved in the conviction of Timothy Masters had ties to the alternate suspect in the case, a defense lawyer said yesterday. The defense will present evidence of the relationship at a hearing on Thursday in the case, in which Masters is seeking to have his conviction overturned due to new analysis of questionable forensic evidence at his original trial.
Masters was convicted in 1999 of a murder 12 years earlier in his hometown. He was 15 at the time and the body of a classmate was found near the home he shared with his family. Masters’s "violent" drawings were a key piece of evidence against him at trial.
"I'm alarmed that there appears to be close relationships between the ex-prosecutors and the best suspect in this case," (Masters’s attorney) said Monday. "There are social, business and religious relationships I'm just now learning about, relationships that were never disclosed.
"If they had this conflict … they should have been disqualified from prosecuting Tim." Read the full story here. (Denver Post, 08/21/2007)
Tags: Timothy Masters
DNA tests planned in Colorado man’s exoneration bid
Posted: November 14, 2007 12:46 pm
Tim Masters has been in prison since 1999 for a murder he says he didn’t commit, and the DNA tests he has been requesting are finally scheduled. Masters was 15 when his classmate was murdered in 1987. When he was convicted of the murder 12 years later, his “violent” drawings from high school were key evidence against him.
Now, prosecutors say they are ready to move forward with DNA testing on evidence collected from an alternate suspect, who may have also had ties with prosecutors in the Masters conviction.
Defense attorneys and members of the public have criticized police and prosecutors in the Masters case, and Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson said this week that he feels his office has been unfairly attacked.
"It just needs to be emphasized that our position has always been that we want to do what's right. We want the truth to be known. But there is a process for that, rules for that," Abrahamson said. "We did everything we feel was proper and legal. It's an accusation. Just because we're accused of doing something doesn't mean we've done something wrong."Read about the pending DNA tests in this case. (Fort Collins Coloradoan, 11/5/2007)
Read the full article (Fort Collins Coloradoan, 11/14/2007)
Read a previous blog post on Tim Masters’ case.
Tags: Timothy Masters
Colorado man released after DNA points to alternate suspect
Posted: January 22, 2008 2:10 pm
Tim Masters, who served nine years in a Colorado prison for a murder he has always maintained he didn't commit, was released from prison today after a judge approved a motion from prosecutors to vacate his conviction. Prosecutors have said that new DNA results from the crime scene point to an alternate suspect. The Denver Post reported that the DNA evidence points to an ex-boyfriend of the victim, and prosecutors have said they are investigating the alternate suspect.
Masters was 15 at the time of the crime but convicted 12 years later, based partly on a psychological evaluation of violent drawings he made in high school.
Cheers and applause erupted as Masters walked out of court with his attorneys, David Wymore and Maria Liu.The Innocence Project has been working for several months with Colorado law enforcement officials and legislators to ensure that biological evidence in the state is preserved for possible future testing. In Masters' case, his release today is thanks in part to the retention of evidence in his case. Read more about the Innocence Project's evidence preservation work in Colorado.
..."They did a fantastic job," Masters said of his lawyers at a hastily convened news conference.
"I want to go see my family," he stated.
Wymore said he would "urge the prosecutors to dismiss all charges as soon as possible." He added, "It's an opportunity to do the right thing."
Read the full story here and watch video footage of the court hearing. (CNN, 01/22/08)
More media coverage of Masters' case:
Denver Post: Release likely today as missteps surface
Tags: Colorado, Timothy Masters
Prosecutors likely to drop charges in Tim Masters case
Posted: January 25, 2008 4:31 pm
The Denver Post reported today that Colorado prosecutors are planning to drop murder charges against Tim Masters, who was released on Tuesday due to DNA evidence of his innocence. Masters was convicted in 1989 of a murder 12 years earlier near his teenage home. He was 15 at the time of the murder and was questioned vigorously by detectives but not charged at the time. He would be charged and convicted a dozen years later partly based on his violent high school drawings.
The news follows a week of "round-the-clock" meetings between the DA and law-enforcement officials, including Adams County special prosecutor Don Quick, in which Abrahamson and his advisers have determined that not enough viable evidence exists to prove Masters killed Peggy Hettrick in 1987.View the Post’s multimedia special feature on Masters’ case, including footage of his interrogation when he was 15 years old.
The DA also is considering whether to ask state Attorney General John Suthers to take over directing the criminal investigation to find Hettrick's killer, a process that has delayed an announcement.
Read the full story here. (Denver Post, 01/25/08)
The Innocence Project has worked with Colorado officials during recent months on legislation aimed at improving evidence preservation in the state. If evidence from the crime scene in Masters’ case was not preserved, he would still be in prison today, and in dozens of other Colorado cases, potentially exculpatory evidence has already been destroyed. Several Colorado lawmakers have announced plans to introduce preservation legislation this year.
Tags: Colorado, Evidence Preservation, Timothy Masters
Slate.com column: Ramsey case and new technology cast doubt on death penalty
Posted: July 11, 2008 4:16 pm
William Saletan writes on Slate.com today that although he “viscerally” supports the death penalty, DNA exonerations have begged the question: "How confident are (we) that none of the 1,100 people we've executed (since 1976) will end up being exonerated by a technology we didn't use or possess at the time?"
Touch DNA, the method of testing that led Colorado prosecutors to announce this week that JonBenet Ramsey’s parents had been cleared in her murder, was also instrumental in clearing Tim Masters in Colorado after he had served 10 years for a crime he didn’t commit. With new methods of forensic testing constantly evolving, there is no room for the finality of the death penalty, Saletan writes.
I was about to write that we haven't yet executed anyone exonerated by DNA. But that's the wrong way to write the sentence. Here's the right way: We haven't yet exonerated by DNA anyone we've executed. The discovery comes after the act. … There's always more to be learned from a technology you haven't yet tried. You still have to make the best judgment you can at the time. You can't expect that judgment never to be corrected. But you have to leave it open to correction.Read more about Touch DNA in the Denver Post, and watch a video on Touch DNA in the Jon Benet case on CBSNews.com.
Read the full column here. (Slate.com, 07/11/08)
Tags: Timothy Masters
Ex-prosecutors reprimanded in Colorado case
Posted: September 15, 2008 12:55 pm
The Colorado Supreme Court has censured two former prosecutors for their role in the wrongful conviction of Timothy Masters in Fort Collins in 1999. Terrance A. Gilmore and Jolene C. Blair, both now judges in Colorado, were reprimanded by the Supreme Court for failing to ensure that defense attorneys received evidence that could have pointed to Masters’ innocence. They have acknowledged that they didn’t disclose the information.
Masters served nearly a decade in prison for a 1987 murder before DNA tests and other evidence pointing to his innocence led to his release in January. His trial attorney, Erik Fischer, said the prosecutors could have prevented his wrongful conviction by handing over the complete evidence at trial.
"If we would have had the evidence that was withheld from us, there's no doubt in my mind that Tim Masters would have been exonerated at the trial," Fischer said.Read more about Masters’ case on the Denver Post website.
… "I don't know what to say about that," Masters said of the decision when reached by phone by The Associated Press. "I spent 10 years in prison for something I didn't do. It's something, I guess."
Read the full story here. (Associated Press, 09/10/08)
Tags: Government Misconduct, Timothy Masters
Friday Roundup: Living the Dream
Posted: September 30, 2011 6:22 pm
Tags: Timothy Masters
Of Teens and Tunnel Vision
Posted: August 3, 2012 10:45 am
By Liz Webster
From the day he discovered Peggy Hettrick’s body in a field behind his home, Timothy Masters began his 24-year fight to be cleared of the murder. In his newly released book, Drawn to Injustice, Masters—with co-author Steve Lehto—recounts his emotional odyssey from 15-year-old daydreamer, to principal suspect in a murder investigation, to convict, to exoneree.
Masters’ experience emphasizes the vulnerability of young people to wrongful prosecution and conviction and the importance of educating teens about their rights. Still a juvenile, Masters withstood days of interrogation from veteran investigators without an attorney or a parent present. Investigators took advantage of their legal right to mislead Masters, saying that the evidence implicated him, and that he had failed a polygraph examination.
Young people are particularly prone to confessing to crimes they didn’t commit—of the 32 juveniles whose wrongful convictions were later overturned through DNA testing, the majority (66%) falsely confessed. Masters resisted the accusations and continued to insist on his innocence. However, he and his father did consent to a search of their trailer. The items recovered from this search would come to constitute the entirety of the state’s circumstantial case against him.
Fort Collins Police Officer Jim Broderick uncovered a large collection of Masters’ drawings and writings, and used these as evidence of Masters’ violent intentions, zeroing in on him even when evidence incriminating other suspects began to surface. Masters’ doodles involved violent scenarios reminiscent of military battles or horror movies. None of the drawings depicted the kind of sexual violence perpetrated against Hettrick.
Broderick’s relentless pursuit of Masters continued for over ten years until Masters’ arrest in 1998. As well as the writings and drawings, the prosecution used as evidence the fact that Masters’ dead mother had the same hair color as the victim. (She did not.)
Despite the egregiousness of the injustice, Masters and Lehto approach the narrative with a level hand. Over 400 pages, the book is nevertheless a quick read, wonderfully clear and chronological. The story will enlighten any reader, but will particularly resonate with young people. Drawn to Injustice should be recommended reading in high schools across the country.
To order the book online.
To read more about how young people are effected by wrongful convictions.
For a list of other books about wrongful conviction, see our reading list.
Tags: Timothy Masters