DENVER—First Timothy Masters won his freedom. Now he has won some peace with the official exoneration in a murder for which he served 10 years in prison before the conviction was overturned.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said Tuesday that after a yearlong investigation, a state grand jury has concluded that Masters had nothing to do with the 1987 murder of Peggy Hettrick. It’s time for law enforcement to officially exonerate Masters, Suthers said.
News of the exoneration is the latest turn in a case that broke wide open when Masters’ conviction was tossed out after DNA tests using new technology failed to place him at the murder scene. He was released from prison in 2008.
After that, the 40-year-old northern Colorado man won a total of $10 million in lawsuits against Fort Collins and Larimer County officials he accused of ignoring, withholding or destroying evidence in the murder investigation and trial. City and county officials have said they believe the authorities worked in good faith.
Exoneration is the next, important step, Masters told The Associated Press.
“I’ve been waiting almost 25 years to hear somebody in authority say I had nothing to do with it,” Masters said.
Maria Liu, Masters’ attorney, said she was excited for Masters and his family “to be publicly exonerated by the state of Colorado.”
Masters was just 15 when Hettrick, 37, a clothing store manager, was fatally stabbed and sexually mutilated. Her body was found in a field, not far from his home. Investigators said Masters had walked by her body but didn’t immediately tell police.
After years of being a suspect, Masters was convicted in 1999 of the murder despite a lack of physical evidence. Investigators focused on gruesome doodles in his school notebooks and the fact that Masters’ mother had died nearly four years to the day of Hettrick’s slaying.
Prosecutors presented testimony from a forensic psychologist that police Lt. James Broderick consulted.
Attorneys Liu and David Wymore challenged the conviction and a special prosecutor was appointed. The prosecutor announced in early 2008 that DNA testing excluded Masters as a suspect and a judge set aside his conviction and vacated his sentence of life in prison.
Reviews of the original case followed. Last year, Broderick was charged with perjury stemming from his investigation and testimony in the trial.
Two prosecutors in the Masters case who were later appointed as state judges were removed from the bench last year by voters. The Colorado Supreme Court censured Jolene Blair and Terrence Gilmore in 2008, saying they failed as prosecutors to turn over information to defense attorneys, but found they didn’t intend to do it.
The former prosecutors and Broderick have defended their actions in the case.
Abrahamson and the Fort Collins police department issued written statements apologizing to Masters, his family and friends for his ordeal.
Abrahamson said he hopes the same kind of “new, future scientific advancement” that helped clear Masters will help catch Hettrick’s killer.
The grand jury’s statement provides a measure of closure, Masters said.
“Even though I’ve been freed from prison, there are naysayers out there,” he said. “This will help and it will help my family.”
Masters is living in Greeley, about 30 miles east of Fort Collins. Working on his home and a book about his experience and his case take up much of his time. A July 1 deadline is looming for completion of his manuscript, and there’s at least one more chapter—his exoneration.
“We definitely have to add this in there,” Masters said.
———
Associated Press writer Catherine Tsai contributed to this report.
