FORT COLLINS, Colo.—A Fort Collins police officer accused of lying in the investigation and trial of a man wrongly imprisoned for murder is scheduled to appear in July 19 to hear the charges against him and enter a plea.
A Larimer County grand jury Wednesday indicted Lt. James Broderick on eight counts of first-degree perjury in the investigation of Timothy Masters, whose 1999 murder conviction was overturned on DNA evidence. He was released from prison in 2008.
Broderick investigated the 1987 stabbing death of 37-year-old Peggy Hettrick, whose body was found near Masters’ home in Fort Collins. Masters, 15 when Hettrick died, was convicted of killing her despite a lack of physical evidence.
City officials have said they believe investigators acted in good faith.
