Wrongful Conviction Suit filed against Fort Collins, Colorado Police Officers

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Avi Kamionski

Rocky Mountain News reports:  

Tim Masters, whose murder conviction was overturned earlier this year, is suing several current and former Fort Collins police officers and Larimer County prosecutors for wrongful arrest, conviction and imprisonment.The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.On Feb. 11, 1987, a bicyclist on his way to work discovered the body of Peggy Hettrick, a 37- year-old Fashion Bar manager in a south Fort Collins field....On Aug. 10, 1998, Masters was arrested for Hettrick's murder, based on a forensic psychologist's interpretation of his drawings and writings. He was convicted the following spring. In 2003, his case was taken up by two new attorneys, Maria Liu and David Wymore, who pushed for a new trial after finding hundreds of pages of documents that were not turned over to Masters' original defense team. DNA found on Hettrick's clothing was also sent to a Netherlands lab last year, which concluded that it did not match Masters,' but was linked to Hettrick's former boyfriend...[Masters spent] 9 1/2 years in prison.

According to this report, it appears a forensic psychologist interpretation of drawings and writings is what led to Masters' arrest in this case. The complaint itself details a very lengthy criminal investigation that led to Masters. He claims he was framed and it was all circumstantial evidence. Its all to easy to blame the police simply because the DNA in the case matched another individual. To early to judge and to early to call this police misconduct.
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Comments (2) Read through and enter the discussion
rosemary vangorder - January 15, 2009 11:01 AM

Tim Masters deserves every penny he should have gotten long ago.
The justice system in Larimer County is still sending innocent people to jail, withholding exculpatory evidence, and all the rest of it.

Jennifer West - March 19, 2009 1:03 AM

If Tim needs a witness that his life was dramatically changed in a very sad way then I can testify to that. I knew him while serving in the Navy at China Lake California, and had visited him at this home in Ridgcrest California. Shoot me an email, I do remember a lot about Tim and the time I spent with him and how sad he was. I could tell even then something caused him great pain, but at the time I didn't know what.

Jennifer Garrett
Aviation Mechanist Mate Garrett - VX-5/9, China Lake California.

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