FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Fort Collins police Lt. James Broderick has been re-indicted on perjury charges stemming from a botched murder investigation and conviction, three months after the original perjury charges were dismissed.
The new indictment was announced Thursday.
Broderick was first indicted in June 2010 on charges of lying during the investigation and trial of Timothy Masters. Masters was convicted of first-degree murder in 1999 and sentenced to life, but he was released from prison in 2008 and formally exonerated last month after new DNA tests failed to place him at the crime scene.
Broderick pleaded not guilty. A judge dismissed the indictment last May, saying the three-year statute of limitations had expired.
The new indictment argues the statute of limitations hasn’t expired because the alleged perjuries were discovered in October 2007 or later, and that 10 months of the intervening time doesn’t count against the deadline because charges were pending in that period.
Broderick’s attorney didn’t immediately return telephone message left after hours Thursday.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported the new indictment on its website Thursday.
The new indictment lists nine counts of first-degree perjury. The original indictment had eight, but one was dropped in February and the remainder in May.
Masters was convicted of killing Peggy Hettrick of Fort Collins in 1987. Formal exoneration came when Attorney General John Suthers announced in June that a state grand jury investigated the case for a year and concluded Masters had nothing to do with the slaying.
After his release from prison, Masters settled lawsuits against Fort Collins and Larimer County for a total of $10 million. The lawsuits accused officials of ignoring, withholding or destroying evidence in the investigation and trial.
City and county officials have said they believe the authorities worked in good faith.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
