FORT COLLINS, Colo.—A former prosecutor in a botched murder conviction says the 1987 slaying of Peggy Hettrick of Fort Collins may never be solved.
Terence Gilmore, who helped win a conviction in the case that was later overturned, made the comment in an interview with the state Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigated how the case was handled.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported the interview on its Web site Wednesday after obtaining recordings and a transcript through the state open-records law.
“My feeling is it’s never going to be solved now,” Gilmore said in the interview, conducted in May.
Tim Masters was convicted of murder in Hettrick’s death and served nearly 10 years in prison before he was cleared by advanced DNA testing. He was the first person in Colorado to be exonerated by DNA after being convicted.
The Office of Attorney Regulation, an arm of the Colorado Supreme Court, publicly censured Gilmore and another prosecutor, Jolene Blair, for not making sure Masters’ defense attorneys had all the evidence.
Both Gilmore and Blair are now state district judges. The censure does not prevent them from practicing law.
In an interview with the Office of Attorney Regulation, Blair said she was “embarrassed” by missteps in the case and called the overturning of the case “frustrating.”
Gilmore and Blair haven’t commented publicly because the slaying is unsolved and because Masters has sued them in federal court. The lawsuit also names five other current and former officials.
Jim Broderick, the lead investigator on the Masters case for the Fort Collins police, has been cleared of wrongdoing in two inquiries.
All the defendants have asked for the case to be dismissed, claiming they are immune from lawsuits because they were acting as government officials.
The Colorado attorney general is now leading the investigation into Hettrick’s slaying.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
