Lawyers for a man who filed suit against prosecutors and law enforcement after his murder conviction was overturned by DNA evidence can begin taking testimony and gathering evidence after a judge denied a request to delay the case.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock said Thursday that the claims by Tim Masters “directly implicate our judicial system” and the public has a right to hear how the courts handled his case.
Masters was released from prison in January 2008, nearly 10 years after being arrested and later convicted in the 1987 slaying and sexual mutilation of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins. Masters was released after DNA testing failed to place him at the scene and the discovery of evidence that had been withheld from defense attorneys during his trial.
“This whole thing has ruined Tim Masters’ life,” attorney David Lane told Babcock.
All defendants have denied wrongdoing and claim immunity because they were acting in their official capacity.
Since his release, Masters has been bidding on abandoned storage sheds and selling the contents on eBay Inc., said David Wymore, another attorney for Masters.
Masters’ lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Colorado is one of 23 states that have no law mandating compensation for those who are wrongly imprisoned, according to the New York- based Innocence Project. In states that do offer compensation, the wrongly imprisoned are paid anywhere from $50 per day of imprisonment to $50,000 per year.
Prosecutors named in the suit have asked that the case be tossed out, claiming “absolute” government immunity based on January’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Van de Kamp vs. Goldstein. In that case, the court ruled the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office was immune from lawsuits because failure to turn over exculpatory evidence in a case was “administrative,” not “prosecutorial.”
While a judge considered the prosecutors’ request in the Masters suit, attorneys for the prosecutors asked that all proceedings be delayed. In denying their request to delay court proceedings, Babcock said the prosecutors’ claims could be tied up in appeals for years and memories may begin to dim.
“It’s time to get this case going,” Babcock said, noting it’s been 20 years since Hettrick’s unsolved slaying.
For now, only police detectives, including lead detective Jim Broderick, will be allowed to be questioned under oath. Depositions of prosecutors will wait until Babcock decides whether prosecutors are immune from lawsuits. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for Aug. 20.
