Attorneys for Tim Masters will seek to bolster their claims in court hearings this week that conflict-ridden prosecutors failed to reveal a sex-offender doctor as a suspect in Peggy Hettrick’s murder, cheating their client of a fair trial nine years ago.
Today in Larimer County District Court, they resume questioning Fort Collins investigator Tony Sanchez about decisions behind the 1995 destruction of evidence linked to Dr. Richard Hammond’s sex crimes. The hearings are expected to run through Thursday.
The doctor, who lived across the street from where Hettrick’s body was found in 1987, amassed hundreds of videotapes secretly capturing extreme close-ups of women’s genitalia and breasts. Hettrick’s killer meticulously removed parts of her genitalia, as well as a nipple.
After Hammond’s arrest and subsequent suicide, police burned the video evidence without examining all the material. Former police officers, including one who protested the destruction, believe Hettrick could have been on the films.
Before hearings came to a halt in August, Sanchez testified that he and others had considered Hammond a “person of interest” in the Hettrick murder. But no record reflects that police explored his potential involvement.
Masters’ attorney, David Wymore, says the doctor had the surgical skill and sexual obsession to be considered a viable suspect. In a new motion filed Friday, he argues that the nature of Hammond’s surgical skill and sexual obsessions fit directly with trial prosecutors’ theories, proving he should have been divulged to Masters’ original defense team.
Special prosecutors assigned to the Masters case argued last month that Hammond does not legally qualify as an alternate suspect.
They based their position on an interview with Hammond’s former wife. Among other assertions, she claimed she would have heard the garage door open that morning.
The prosecutors also say that Larimer County’s medical examiner recently told them that medical training would not have been necessary to perform the cuttings found on Hettrick. Previously, police records show, the coroner had characterized them as “surgical.”
Masters was convicted of the crime based on circumstantial evidence, primarily involving a psychologist’s interpretation of his violent drawings. Masters also did not tell police that he saw Hettrick’s body while walking to his school-bus stop.
The hearings are part of Masters’ bid for a new trial. The court is hearing testimony on allegations of misconduct by the Larimer County prosecutors and whether they entitle Masters to new proceedings.
Among the issues is whether the assistant district attorneys, Terry Gilmore and Jolene Blair, had conflicts of interest in prosecuting Masters after they had disqualified themselves from the Hammond case – relatives of DA employees apparently were on films.
It also has been disclosed that the two prosecutors, now district court judges, had social ties to Hammond. Gilmore had been a guest at his house, and Blair was a patient at his eye clinic.
Staff writer Miles Moffeit can be reached at 303-954-1415 or mmoffeit@denverpost.com.
