
Masters sees conviction vacated, awaits retrial
hearing
Boosted by DNA analysis, Fort Collins man allowed to
replace handcuffs with suit cuffs
By Miles Moffeit
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 01/23/2008
Tim Masters, a free man,
waves to supporters outside courthouse in Ft. Collins, CO.
FORT COLLINS — Tim Masters walked free Tuesday after
serving almost a decade behind bars for a murder conviction his lawyers
long argued had been based on little more than scary teenage
scribblings.
Wearing neatly pressed JoS. A. Bank dress clothes and yellow tie
purchased by his attorneys, the Fort Collins native stepped out a back
door of the Larimer County Justice Center, waved to supporters and was
sped by car to a reunion of more than 40 family members waiting for him
at a private party four blocks away.
"It's so great, I can't begin to explain it — to see all my family and
friends," Masters, with moist eyes, told The Denver Post, describing
his feelings of freedom. "It's not having someone standing behind you
telling you you have only one minute to say your goodbyes."
Minutes earlier, at the request of special prosecutor and Adams County
District Attorney Don Quick, visiting Judge Joe Weatherby set aside
Masters' conviction for Peggy Hettrick's 1987 murder, citing new DNA
evidence that Quick said excludes Masters from the crime. The order
brought Masters freedom — and one step closer to being Colorado's first
convict exonerated by DNA.
"I'm a little overwhelmed," Masters said at a post-ruling news
conference in the courthouse.
Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson, who agreed Tuesday
that Masters is at least entitled to a new trial, must decide whether
to move forward with such a trial on the murder charge still officially
lodged against him.
"He's walking tall"
That pending decision didn't stop Masters from rejoicing after
Weatherby accepted his not-guilty plea and granted his attorneys'
request to release him on a personal-recognizance bond. The moment he
entered the Elks Lodge, where relatives from five states had gathered,
he met a group hug. His big sister, Serena Castro, who he didn't know
would be there, was among the first to reach him.
"He's walking tall, upright now," Castro said, rubbing her eyes, ". . .
not slouched like at the prison."
With a looser swing to his shoulders, the 35-year-old man moved around
a long buffet table festooned with a "Welcome Back" banner. He smiled
and sampled fresh fried chicken, vegetables and chips.
"I
can't believe this," he said.
Earlier, more than 100 spectators, including
family, lawmakers,
journalists and documentary filmmakers, crowded into the tiny
courtroom, waiting for the moment the judge would sign the order. By
10:30 a.m., Weatherby made special arrangements to allow Masters'
relatives to occupy half the room next to the judge's bench for the
decision. During five years of hearings, they had earnestly filled the
rows behind Masters' legal team to show their support.
When Weatherby remarked that the sentence was vacated, Masters' aunts
and uncles didn't suppress sniffles and silent gestures of triumph.
Sitting behind the same table his attorneys have used off and on for
five years to build their case, Masters managed a slight smile.
A quarter of his life was to be lost when authorities convicted him in
1999 of murdering Hettrick in 1987, when he was 15 years old.
Prosecutors charged that his violent drawings and writings were a
rehearsal for the slaying, and a jury agreed in a conviction that
withstood scrutiny all the way through a divided Colorado Supreme
Court.
Although police had no physical evidence,
they suggested that
Masters' failure to report Hettrick's body when, on the morning of Feb.
11, 1987, he walked right past it in the field near his house was
enough to make him a suspect.
A methodical challenge
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Chronology: The Tim Masters case
Feb. 11, 1987: The body of Peggy Hettrick is found
in a Fort Collins
field. Later that day, Fort Collins police pull then-15-year-old Tim
Masters out of Fort Collins High School and question him about the
woman's death.
Aug. 10, 1998: Masters is arrested and formally charged with Hettrick's
murder.
Feb. 23, 1999: Masters stands trial in Hettrick's death.
March 26, 1999: A Larimer Country jury finds Masters guilty. He is
sentenced to life in prison.
Dec. 17, 2002: The Colorado Supreme Court upholds Masters' 1999
conviction.
July 18, 2007: A Larimer County judge appoints Adams County District
Attorney Don Quick to examine new defense claims that Masters was
denied a fair trial.
Jan. 18, 2008: Quick announces that DNA found on Hettrick's clothing is
not a match for Masters' DNA but is a match for that of another
suspect.
Jan. 22, 2008: Masters is released on bond after a judge dismisses his
conviction. |
Masters' attorneys David Wymore and Maria Liu have
methodically
challenged the case used to convict Masters. They uncovered scores of
documents that contradict the prosecution's theory, battled to preserve
evidence and then sought skin-cell DNA analysis in Holland that found
none of Masters' genetic material on Hettrick's clothing.
Instead, the analysis found cells belonging to three other men,
including one who had been considered and quickly dismissed as a
suspect shortly after the murder.
After Tuesday's ruling, Wymore arranged a quick courthouse news
conference to implore Abrahamson to drop the charges.
"The reason we're here right now is because Tim Masters is innocent,"
Wymore said. "He remains and was a victim of an unfair and unjust
conviction."
Referring to the not-guilty plea that Masters submitted to the court,
Wymore said, "I'm still in a pretrial mode. I'm going to ask first the
prosecution to dismiss all charges against Tim Masters as quickly as
possible. It's an opportunity to do the right thing, to release him for
good and forever from this taint."
Abrahamson told The Post that he had set a meeting Tuesday afternoon to
review the matter, but a spokeswoman later said, "No decision will be
coming today."
Wymore also alluded to the pain that Masters' and Hettrick's families
have endured waiting for a resolution to the case.
"We're sorry to reopen any wounds with the family of Peggy Hettrick,"
Wymore said.
As for Masters' clan: "They've endured anguish, humiliation and
frustration over many years, but they have been the drive behind our
ability to keep moving forward."
Masters then stepped to the lectern, acknowledging he was nervous. ". .
. Bear with me. I want to thank my family and friends who've stayed
with me all these years. I want to thank the media, . . . and that's
about all I have to say."
Then, he said, "I love this suit and tie," eliciting laughter from the
audience. "I want to go see my family."
All walks of life
What could be Masters' last day in court meant different things to the
more than 100 people from all walks of life in the room — lawmakers,
lawyers, scientists, relatives, professors. The need for stronger
evidence laws, given Masters' fight to preserve evidence and obtain DNA
testing. The need for closure — if the charges are dropped, for
example, the case again turns cold.
"With Tim's apparent innocence, how can we as a state confidently say
this is an isolated case," said state Rep. Cheri Jahn, who wants
Masters to testify at upcoming hearings to pass laws to make it a duty
for authorities to preserve evidence. "We need to do more to make sure
the system is just."
No one from Hettrick's family was in evidence at the courthouse
Tuesday.
Her uncle, who had attended some of the hearings, was not available for
comment.
Outside the courtroom, after Masters was ordered free, his aunt Rose
Lamb and other family members released a bundle of balloons into the
sky: nine green ones, representing every year Masters has worn a green
prison suit, and 20 white ones, representing every year Hettrick's
death has gone unsolved.
"They were supposed to symbolize doves," Lamb said. "Peggy Hettrick —
she can't be forgotten."
Twenty miles away, at the Loveland Cemetery, her gravesite was covered
with crusted snow. No footprints. No flowers.
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