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Monday, November 05, 2007

Police Unleash "Psychological Depth Charge" in Master's Case

Absolutely unbelievable...

FORT COLLINS — Police investigators unleashed what amounted to a "psychological depth charge" on Tim Masters on the first anniversary of Peggy Hettrick's killing — planting a phony story in the local paper, making sure it was delivered to his home, and leaving his mother's obituary where he might find it.

The tactics, detailed in court testimony today, were coupled with an extensive surveillance program and were apparently designed to provoke a response — perhaps even violence — from Masters in an effort to tie him to Hettrick's grisly murder, his attorney asserted today.

But they were also dangerous — attorney David Wymore produced a memo showing that the FBI would disavow any knowledge of the plan if something went wrong.

"I guess killing somebody or stabbing somebody would be a backfire, wouldn't it," Wymore said, his voice rising. "That would be a backfire."

Hettrick, a manager at a Fort Collins Fashion Bar, was stabbed in the back and sexually mutilated on Feb. 11, 1987. Her body was discovered in a field behind the home where Masters, then a 15-year-old high school student, was living, and he was quickly a main focus of the investigation.

It wasn't until 1998, however, that police investigators developed enough evidence to arrest Masters, and the following year he was convicted of killing Hettrick, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the killing.

He was convicted largely on the basis of hundreds of writings and drawings, many of them violent, and a forensic psychologist's interpretation of them.

Masters is fighting for a new trial, and his current attorneys, David Wymore and Maria Liu, have accused police and prosecutors of hiding evidence that might have proven his innocence. They are engaged in a series of hearings with special prosecutors from the Adams County District Attorney's Office over a series of motions.

At the same time, attorneys for Masters are expected to file a formal motion seeking a new trial — which is expected to trigger at least a month of hearings, probably in early to mid-2008.

Hettrick's killing shocked Fort Collins — she was brutally stabbed, and her killer sliced away flesh from her vagina and left breast.

In the early weeks of the investigation, according to documents produced in court today by Wymore, experts at the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit concluded there was a likelihood that the killer "will commit a similar crime."

However, as the first anniversary of the killing arrived, police had not made an arrest.

Wymore produced a Jan. 8, 1988, memorandum from then-police Lt. Deryle O'Dell to Dave Feldman, who at the time was the head of the investigations division for the Fort Collins Police Department.

The memo began with an update on the investigation and on the work of detectives.

"Their feeling is that the suspect in the case, Timothy Masters, may exhibit some behavior near the anniversary date that could be an opportunity to further tie him to the case," O'Dell wrote.

O'Dell detailed two options, the first of which "would have to be decided by the chief due to possible political ramifications."

That plan called for the department to plant a "news" story in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, to deliver the newspaper to Masters' home for a month around the time of the anniversary of Hettrick's murder, and extensive surveillance.

Officers also put a copy of the obituary for Masters' mother in an envelope, then left that under the windshield wiper on a friend's car.

O'Dell's memo detailed the danger to authorities if something went wrong.

"It must be considered quite risky in terms of how the community may react if it doesn't work," O'Dell wrote. "In fact, it could backfire, and if it does the FBI will not admit any involvement in its conception. Only the team investigating this case knows of this option, and if used it would be kept that way."

The memo went on to detail a plan for planting a story in the newspaper.

"The initial news release should come from the chief's office announcing a new break in the case," O'Dell wrote.

And, in fact, on Feb. 11, 1988 — the first anniversary of Hettrick's murder — the Coloradoan carried a story that said police had "a possible suspect" in the killing.

The story quoted O'Dell as noting that every suspect but one had been eliminated, and that "we're closer to putting together a case on that person than we were a year ago, and we're hoping to do that."

During a hearing today, Wymore questioned Nathan Chambers, who represented Masters as his trial, about the memo, its implications and a question that he has hit on time and again — whether it should have been turned over to the defense team before the trial.

"It is utterly astounding," Chambers said, a hint of incredulousness in his voice.

Later, he again accused Fort Collins police officers of hiding information that would have helped Masters mount an effective defense.

"They have proven themselves, beyond question, to be utterly untrustworthy," an animated Chambers said.

Wymore returned several times to the goals of the plan carried out in 1988 — to "psychologically depth-charge" Masters and "basically trying to set him up to commit a similar crime."

"If you're asking me to explain the behavior of the Fort Collins Police Department, I'm not devious enough to do that," Chambers said.


Rocky Mountain News

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

5
去年下半年以來的 酒店工作金融海嘯,不僅讓市井小民壓力沉重, 酒店上班就連專營高檔客層的精品商家,也都面臨不小的壓力, 寒假打工
甚至無力負擔商圈的房租,市場瀰漫著一股悲觀的氣氛。


隨著股市、房市 暑假打工的熱絡氣象,外界預期一些辛苦經營的精品店面、 酒店PT商圈,將順勢而起,不過,熟悉大台北商圈的欣元商仲總經理焦文華直言,目 禮服酒店前精品業者的經營還相當艱困,景氣反轉的力道並不如外界預期。


焦文華分析,精品商圈 兼差的經營,確實還是面臨消費力不足的困境。目前消費者物價指數已連續兩個月負成長(六、七月份),具體反映出消費力衰退的現象,高檔的珠寶、手錶、服飾等精品市場感受更深,部分店家業績 打工,更是過去高峰期的三分之一,業者稱得上是「苦撐待變」。


永慶店面事業部 台北酒店經紀經理李元鳳表示,精品商圈在金融海 酒店經紀嘯中確實面臨很大的壓力,且當時都無法預期景氣何時好轉 酒店打工,耗費數百萬元的裝潢成本,更迫使業者無法輕言放棄。以當時的天母SOGO商圈為例,就算距離天母SOG 酒店兼差O百貨的開幕已經不到半年的時間,但周邊店面的空置率仍高達二十%,顯示屋主與業者都存有濃厚的觀望心態,這 酒店兼職與過去市場會提前反映利多現象有顯著差異。


雖然精品業者辛苦經營,但是從喝花酒永慶店面事業部的統計數據來看,五大精品商圈的空置率在今年上半年皆有明顯下降,但是積極展店的業種,卻是以餐飲、零售等微利事業體,精品商圈交際應酬的「精品氣氛」,已逐漸稀釋。


不僅精品商圈的味道變了,過去勇於投資精品商圈的粉味投資客,追價的力道同樣大不如前。李元鳳表示,以台北市最廣為人知的「晶華酒店商圈」為例酒店喝酒,售價從二○○八年曾出現的每坪三百萬元的高檔價格,到今年平均一百八十萬至兩百五十萬元的水準,雖然店租行情波動不大,但也反映出目前買方出價的「保守」。


徐佳馨表示,從空置率數據來看,與去年狀況極差的第四季相比 酒店,精品商圈的空置率都出現明顯的下降,但由於各界對於景氣是否反彈仍有疑慮,因此就算租金與售價已開始蠢動,但是否能夠真實反映市場實況,仍存有許多變數。