The case of Tim Masters has long been viewed as one of the most disturbing murder convictions on record: a case where a man seemed convicted without direct evidence of guilt, treated abusively by police and painted as a deviate on the basis of childhood drawings. A special prosecutor has now found not only prosecutorial abuse in the case but DNA evidence that points to another man.
Tim Masters’ case has been a subject of debate in criminal law circles for years after he was convicted for sexually mutilating a woman when he was 15 years old. Peggy Hettrick was killed in 1987 and left in a field. Masters was convicted of the crime 12 years later — though no substantive evidence was found against him.
Adams County District Attorney Don Quick has now found that DNA evidence found on Hettrick’s clothing matched another man.
The case is particularly disturbing because of allegations of police abuse and prosecutorial misconduct. In his interrogation, the 15-year-old was not given an lawyer and grilled for hours by tag-team detectives. They lied to him that he had flunked a lie detecter and told him that they had clear proof of his guilt. Prosecutors later withheld key evidence that would have helped in his defense.
Last night, CNN interviewed one of the detectives who said that she was almost physically ill when Masters was convicted and believes him to be innocent.
The question in the case now goes beyond release and compensation. It goes to the continuing lack of deterrent for prosecutorial and police misconduct in such cases. When such disclosures occur, there is usually little effort to identify or hold those responsible for distorting the legal system. For a prior column on prosecutorial misconduct, click here The Nifong case is unique in that sense. What is remarkable is that there seems little middle ground between prosecutors receiving no punishment (the norm) in such cases and Nifong who recently filed for bankruptcy and now appears totally ruined. For Nifong filing, click here.
The vast majority of prosecutors and police do not cut corners or cheat. They take their role very seriously. However, such abuses still occur regularly with people who believe that the society will always protect them if they are over-zealous in their pursuit of convictions. Notably, the detective in the Masters case said that they never pursued other suspects after they learned Masters had first spotted the body and did not report it (he says that he did not think it was a real body). Now three former Ft. Collins detectives and a former CBI lab director have all come forward to say that they believe that he is innocent..
I completely agree. There should be some kind of criminal penalty against all kinds of official misconduct, be it committed by police, prosecutors and judges. You are correct that most abide by the rules and don’t cut corners to “win” cases. But since there are no laws against misconduct by law enforcement officials, the ones who are DIShonest and UNethical continue to get away with their…well, criminal behavior.
The laws don’t have to be harsh or unreasonable, but I believe there should be SOME jail time, and it should be a felony offense, so it stays on their record. A low felony, perhaps, with a minimum of three months up to a year maximum. It may sound harsh to some folks, but that’s nothing compared to what prosecutors like Mike Nifong were willing to do to the three Duke lacrosse players, for example. And Bill Peterson in Ada, OK who convicted two innocent men, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz on the flimsiest of “evidence.”
I don’t believe civil suits are enough, and I think many judges throw those out of court anyway. While I hate suggesting MORE criminal penalties, I don’t think official misconduct by law enforcement representatives can be considered trivial. At this point, I think criminal penalties are the only way to correct this problem. I seriously doubt that police, prosecutors and even judges would be willing to risk committing misconduct if they knew they might end up doing jail or prison time themselves.
Susan in VA
Now Det. Broderick – who, by the way, in his professional capacity is in charge of Ethics for the other members of the city’s police force – is talking about “mistakes” and how important it is to determine whether there was any actual malice.
That man devoted his career to single-mindedly, unswervingly pursuing Tim Masters. He is the architect, engineer, and shot-caller of the entire conspiracy to convict Masters, starting the very day of the murder. He’s been a man on a mission – and nobody can sustain such wrong-headedness for so long without a huge motivating force of malice to activate it.
I recommend this article as a detailed background of the case if you don’t want to go through dozens of news clips.
http://freetimmastersbecause.blogspot.com/2007/07/main-thing-to-know-right-now.html
Pat, thanks so much for posting this link. Although it has a HUGE amount of information on the case, it was fascinating, not to mention outrageous and appalling.
It is a reminder of other gross miscarriages of justice, to use the polite phrase. One example being the “child molestation” witch hunts in Bakersfield CA, and other such cases, where the panic and hysteria about so-called “child molesters” was precisely the same as the Salem MA Witch trials over 300 years ago. Some of those poor folks who were wrongfully convicted of not only crimes they never committed, but as it turned out, over a decade later, NEVER actually happened.
Another example was the notorious Jeane Nicario case in DuPage County, IL where two or three innocent young men were wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl. The original detective on the case was convinced that the men arrested and convicted hadn’t done it, but was removed from the case by the prosecutors because he wouldn’t go along.
There are so many such cases, it seems, and many of them cannot be released by DNA evidence, because DNA didn’t play a part in those cases. And without decent legal representation because many have no money for good lawyers, their cases may never be heard at all. Again, thanks for posting the Tim Masters link. I certainly hope his long nightmare will be over soon.
Susan in VA
http://jhrtukeedoer.com/