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CARROLL: Psychologist's fantasy

By Vincent Carroll, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 23, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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J. Reid Meloy helped to convict an innocent man of murder, so naturally the forensic psychologist hopes to shift the blame to others for his error. This week we learned how he would perform this stunt thanks to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Timothy Masters, a Fort Collins man who spent a decade in prison before being freed earlier this year.

Make no mistake: This column is not an assessment of the lawsuit's thesis that certain police and prosecutors engaged in a "conspiracy to ensure that Tim Masters was arrested, tried, and convicted for the murder of Ms. [Peggy] Hettrick in spite of the great and obvious weight of evidence supporting his innocence." But it does take issue with Meloy's attempt to wriggle out of blame, too.

Meloy now claims, according to the lawsuit, that he never would have fingered Masters for the crime if police had provided him with all of the evidence. Poor fellow: He was manipulated "into concluding that Mr. Masters was guilty of the Hettrick murder" when the full evidence would have suggested "that the 'probability' that Mr. Masters committed the Hettrick homicide was 'incredibly small' relative to Dr. (Richard) Hammond's likely perpetration."

Oh, please. Meloy was hardly seduced into damning Masters. He all but leaped at the chance. The police may have withheld some evidence, but they did provide him with a wealth of information, including hundreds of pages of Masters' writings and drawings. It was Meloy alone who decided to portray that material in the most ominous light.

It was Meloy who classified every reference to the color "red" in Masters' writings and drawings as a potential sign of rage - including such words as "redwood" and Little Red Riding Hood.

It was Meloy whose lengthy analysis of the case was replete with lurid, speculative suggestions pointing to Masters' guilt, such as Meloy's belief that the victim "also resembled his deceased mother, which is of enormous psychological significance"; that "there is ample evidence that this sexual homicide was a displaced matricide"; and that Masters "knows the distinction between slicing and stabbing, terms that generally would not be distinguished by the lay person."

It was Meloy who presented his highly credentialed guesswork as "science," and it was Meloy who defended the scientific nature of his work before the jury that convicted Masters.

On one level, Meloy's testimony at the trial was utterly pedestrian. At the prosecutor's prodding, he launched into a lengthy description of how his profession classifies sexual homicides: The murderers are either "organized" or "disorganized," for example, or they fall somewhere in between (is there another possibility?). They kill their victims quickly or after indulging in sadism and/or sex. Some mutilate their victims. They are sometimes or often subject to deviant fantasies. And so on.

They paid Meloy $300 an hour for this recitation of the commonplace. But there was, of course, a significant point to it: Meloy was then asked whether "the productions of Mr. Masters" - that is, the drawings and writings seized by police - qualified under this framework as "rehearsal fantasies." Meloy eagerly agreed they did and cited numerous examples.

Even if Meloy would have identified another suspect as the killer if he'd known about him, we are left with a disturbing truth: This forensic psychologist's methodology is so broad and flaccid that it helped convict an innocent man because that individual happened to indulge in admittedly violent, ugly fantasies. Shouldn't that call into question Meloy's entire professional approach?

During cross-examination, Masters' defense attorney, Nathan Chambers, did his best to get Meloy to concede that some portion of apparently normal people have deviant fantasies, too, but in a confusing series of answers Meloy seemed both to agree and disagree at the same time.

So, then, how does he explain Masters' innocence now, one has to wonder?

How does he explain, for that matter, the admission in his own book, Violent Attachments, that he himself has "occasional violent fantasies" and "predatory fantasies"?

One month before Masters' trial, Meloy wrote to Stuart VanMeveren, the district attorney at the time, saying how much he hoped his contribution would "result in a successful prosecution." Meloy was not dispassionate. He was not disinterested. He was not the mere manipulated victim of others' plots.

Doctor, heal thyself.

Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.

Comments

  • October 23, 2008

    3:28 a.m.

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    justin_case writes:

    Thanks so much for the words about Greed Meloy. Among other things, it's a consumer issue. The taxpayers of Colorado should demand a refund of the enormous fee he charged for his travesty. And, can practitioners of his profession be sued for malpractice? Forensic psychology is voodoo even at best, and this guy is the worst.

  • October 23, 2008

    9:44 a.m.

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    mikeyg writes:

    I've got a big problem with guilty people getting off because of "technicalities". Bastards like Obama's terrorist buddy William Ayers and his murdering wife belong in prison, not on college campuses. But I've got a bigger problem with innocent people being railroaded by a system that unleashes the full resources of the state on them, including testimony from doctors and police who LIE on the stand and when making statements that lead to being charged with a crime.

    Being wrongfully prosecuted is a terrible enough outcome of over-eager law enforcement and prosecutors. The cost of a trial, both financially and emotionally cannot be understated. That's why our criminal justice system seems to only benefit the wealthy. If you don't have money then doctors like this fraud team up with prosecution to send you straight to jail, innocent or not. If you do have money then you have a shot at justice, albeit expensive. And when innocent people are found "not guilty" they don't jump for joy, they give a sigh of relief. They are not made whole or compensated for the mistakes of the state.

    I hope Mr. Masters takes law enforcement to the cleaners for actually having been sent to prison on a wrongful conviction. If our criminal justice system provided for compensation to those who are wrongfully charged and convicted we'd see far fewer innocent people in jail, and far fewer "experts" like Meloy willing to LIE on the stand and help convict innocent people simply to profit from future contracts with prosecutors.

  • October 23, 2008

    9:47 a.m.

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    a_watcher writes:

    Well done.

  • October 24, 2008

    4:16 p.m.

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    mmmark217 writes:

    Wait just a cotton pickin minute MikeyG. Are you saying that cops actually lie and make things up to get convictions? I'm shocked. I thought they were all like Andy Taylor. lol

  • October 25, 2008

    1:18 a.m.

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    BillORights writes:

    J. Reid Meloy -just another rubber stamp.
    police psychologist of dallas -Dr. James Grigson, testified that Randale Dale adams was a sociopath, like Hittler and would kill again. Adams was sentenced to death for the murder of police officer Robert Wood. spent about 10 years in prison before mounting evidence, investigation and taped confession that the real killer was David Ray Harris and Randall Dale Adams , wasnt involved, knew nothing about nor had been anywhere near the murder of Officer Robert Wood , not anything but an honest man with no violent history (before and after) . Turned out the prosecutions star witness was the lone shooter. Errol Morris made the famed film "thin blue line" in which the allegation was that the dallas police had made up their mind on who the killer was, without the evidence to back it up, and made a case with perjured testimony and a rubber stamp psychiatrist nicknamed Dr. Death, that could always be counted on by the prosecution to say that the defendent was a sociopath and deserving the death penalty with giving little evaluation to the subject.
    there are plenty of other people willing or eager, particularly eager for a fee to testify the way a prosecutor wants to hear. and it is against the cannons of law to facilitate such over aquiescent witnesses who would undermine the justice systems, but systems reward winners and false testimony often wins cases.
    J. Reid Meloy -just another rubber stamp.

  • October 27, 2008

    2:34 p.m.

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    newsjunkie writes:

    my sentiments exactly, Campos. I am simply appalled at the hubris of this pinhead "psychologist". So now he says his trial performance was not his fault??? that is really rich. but the good doctor sure enjoyed putting on a good show for the jury at the time, didn't he? what an arrogant, fraudulent, narcissistic b***ard. I fully support Masters' pursuing this civil rights action and he has a great case - but he should also be suing this so-called doctor - instead of aligning himself with him. Reid only all too willingly joined in the feeding frenzy that pursued a conviction of Masters at any cost. He was bought and paid for. He gave the prosecution exactly the trumped up junk science b***s*** they were seeking. Please, Reid, do not do further insult and damage to our system of justice by now claiming you were misled by the police and prosecution. you were the one who decided to turn those drawings into a theory of murder and mayhem. no one else did. and then the jury abdicated their responsibility to apply common sense and think for themselves - choosing instead to let this charlatan think for them. Reid, just man up and admit your actions led to a terrible miscarriage of justice.