No more cuffs: Masters free

After 9 1/2 years in prison, he says it's 'still sinking in'

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 23, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated January 23, 2008 at 12:12 p.m.

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Photo by Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky

Tim Masters addresses the media Tuesday after his release at the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins. "I just want to thank my family, my friends, who stuck with me all these years," he said.

Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Kim Langren hugs Theresa Cromer, back to camera, as family and friends gather Tuesday in the courtroom doorway in anticipation of Masters' release in Fort Collins.

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After spending 91/2 years behind bars, it took just about 9 1/2 minutes to free Tim Masters on Tuesday.

And after that unprecedented move, Masters did something he had not done since Aug. 10, 1998 - he stood up and walked out the courtroom doors, no cuffs on his wrists, no shackles on his ankles, no murder conviction hanging over his head.

The stunning scene unfolded in the wake of newly discovered DNA evidence on murder victim Peggy Hettrick's clothing that was linked not to Masters but to a former boyfriend of hers.

"It's still sinking in," Masters said, photographers jostling at his side, as he took his first steps as a free man since he was arrested in the killing of Hettrick, a manager at a Fort Collins Fashion Bar.

Masters, 36, had just watched Judge Joseph Weatherby throw out the murder conviction that had sent him to prison for life. It marked the culmination of five years of work by attorneys who believed Masters when he said he was innocent and who built a compelling case against the criminal justice system that put him behind bars.

Wearing tan slacks that were a little too long, a white dress shirt that was a little too big, a gold tie and a blue blazer - clothes bought for him by his attorneys - Masters hustled into a jury assembly room jammed with aunts, uncles, cousins and television cameras and reporters.

Trouble finding words

Then Masters, who had sat quietly and respectfully through dozens of court hearings, had trouble finding words to explain what it all meant to him.

"I'm a little overwhelmed here, so bear with me," he said. "I just want to thank my family, my friends, who stuck with me all these years.

"Without their support I don't know if I would have made it through this."

He was so nervous, in fact, he forgot to thank his attorneys, then did so quickly.

"I want to go see my family," he said.

It was another step in an odyssey that began Feb. 11, 1987, the day a bicyclist on his way to work discovered Hettrick's body. Her killer stabbed her in the back, sexually mutilated her and then carried or dragged her into a south Fort Collins field.

She was left with her pants pulled down and her blouse and jacket pushed up.

Investigators immediately focused on Masters, a 15-year-old high school student who lived with his widower father in a mobile home that overlooked the field. He admitted that he stopped and looked at Hettrick's body as he walked to catch the school bus that morning in the pre-sunrise gloom. But he didn't report it to anyone, he said, because he thought it was a mannequin.

Despite hours of police questioning, Masters held firm, insisting he had nothing to do with Hettrick's killing. However, investigators were suspicious of his collection of survival knives, some with scalpels secreted in their handles, of hundreds of pages of violent drawings and stories found in his bedroom and school locker, and of some of the statements he made.

He wasn't arrested then. But in the ensuing years, detectives continued to consider Masters the prime suspect.

In the 1990s, investigators consulted with forensic experts, and one of them, Dr. Reid Meloy, examined hundreds of the drawings and writings produced by Masters and concluded that he killed Hettrick.

Meloy's work provided the foundation of the case against Masters, who was arrested Aug. 10, 1998, and convicted the next spring.

His conviction was upheld by both the Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court.

Greeley attorney Maria Liu took on the case in November 2003.

"After I had read the police reports, and then watched his seven-hour interrogation, and then met with him, I believed in him," Liu said. "It just did not sit right."

She recruited David Wymore, the former chief public defender in Colorado, and the two of them, joined by several former Fort Collins police officers who had doubts about the case, launched an extensive effort to win Masters a new trial.

In recent months, they unearthed hundreds of pages of documents that were improperly withheld from the lawyers who defended Masters at his trial, and raised numerous questions about the conduct of police officers and the prosecutors who took the case against Masters to a jury. An outside investigation of the conduct of police and prosecutors has been launched.

The team working for Masters also enlisted a laboratory in the Netherlands, where cutting-edge DNA testing was done on the clothes Hettrick was wearing when she died.

That laboratory recently found that skin-cell DNA on the cuffs of the sleeves of Hettrick's blouse, and inside the waistband of her panties, matched the genetic fingerprint of a former boyfriend.

After the Colorado Bureau of Investigation confirmed that match last Friday, Adams County District Attorney Don Quick, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case, announced that he would file a motion asking that the conviction be thrown out.

Even a juror came

Tuesday morning, in a cramped municipal courtroom, more than 100 people jammed in to watch the spectacle, including Tom Turner, one of the jurors who convicted Masters. Weatherby called up members of Masters' family - more than 50 in all - and gave them spots in the front of the courtroom, where they surrounded the witness stand.

At 10:57 a.m., Masters entered through the side door that leads from a back hallway used to bring prisoners to court. He was dressed in street clothes, and he sat between his attorneys.

Assistant Adams County District Attorney Michael Goodbee, who has handled the courtroom work for Quick, stood and outlined his motion.

Throwing out the murder conviction, he said, "is in the best interest of justice."

Weatherby granted the motion, and then freed Masters on a $200,000 personal recognizance bond. That means he didn't have to put up any bail money, only promise to show up at his next court date, Feb. 5 - and face the huge bill if he doesn't.

And though a surge of joy swept through members of Masters' family, that was not really the end of the case but rather a new beginning.

For now, at least, Masters still has murder charges hanging over his head. And while legal experts believe that Larimer County District Attorney Larry Abrahamson will dismiss them after a review of the case, Wymore still entered a "not guilty" plea for Masters and asked that the clock start ticking on his right to a speedy trial.

It was not clear who will investigate whether Hettrick's former boyfriend or someone else may have been involved in her killing - one possibility is a grand jury.

After the hearing, Masters hustled across the hall for a press conference that, just a few days before, he could only dream about.

Along the way, Linda Wheeler-Holloway, a former Fort Collins police officer who came to doubt Masters' guilt and has worked for years to win his freedom, struggled to find her thoughts.

"I'm so relieved," Wheeler-Holloway said. "It's a great day. What a day. Wow. What a moment. It's just terrific. Incredible."

Moments later, Wymore stepped in front of a thicket of television cameras.

"The reason why we are here, right now, is because Tim Masters is innocent," Wymore said, sparking an eruption of applause. "He remains, and was the victim of an unfair and unjust conviction."

Wymore also spoke of Hettrick.

"We're sorry to reopen any wounds to the family of Peggy Hettrick," Wymore said. "We'd like to assure them that we have given every fact that we know to be the truth - true facts - to law enforcement to aid them to go forward in the future."

A little later, Masters walked into a second-floor banquet room at the Elks Lodge, where red, yellow and blue crepe paper hung from the ceiling, where cold cuts and vegetables and fried chicken covered a table, where a banner hung that said, "Welcome Back Tim." Where dozens of family members waited to celebrate.

And then, after he'd eaten a piece of fried chicken and hugged relatives and met cousins he'd never seen before, after he'd taken phone calls and talked to everyone, Tim Masters got up to leave, a free man.

Staff writers David Montero, Julie Poppen and Jim Sheeler contributed to this report.

What's next?

* Back in court: Masters will return to court at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 5.

* Expected outcome: Larimer County authorities may announce whether they will pursue a new trial against him or dismiss all charges.

* Pending decisions: Authorities will decide whether to investigate the new DNA evidence in the case linked to a former boyfriend of Peggy Hettrick's. Among the possibilities are a new investigation by Fort Collins police, by detectives from outside agencies or by a grand jury.

Key players

* Peggy Hettrick: A 37-year-old manager at a Fort Collins Fashion Bar, who was killed the morning of Feb. 11, 1987.

* David Wymore: The former chief state public defender, Wymore led the effort for a new trial for Masters.

* Maria Liu: The Greeley attorney worked behind the scenes on behalf of Masters, ceding the courtroom work to Wymore.

* Michael Goodbee: Assistant district attorney in Adams County, he served as a special prosecutor in the case.

* Tom Quammen: Chief deputy district attorney in Adams County, he also served as a special prosecutor and handled much of the cross-examination work.

* Joseph Weatherby: A retired judge from Morgan County, Weatherby was appointed to handle the hearings aimed at winning Masters a new trial.

* Jim Broderick: The Fort Collins police lieutenant built the original case against Masters.

* Linda Wheeler-Holloway: A former Fort Collins police detective who helped put Masters in prison. She later concluded he was innocent and began working to win his freedom.

* Larry Abrahamson: The district attorney in Larimer County, he must consider whether to re-try Masters or dismiss all charges in the case.

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