Masters Out In The Free World

We sent Tim a reentry guide today, for all of you who asked. He said he had thumbed through one in Buena Vista but he said he would like to have one of his own. I was glad to send it to him.

A day after watching Tim Masters walk out of court a free man, his attorneys began working in earnest to help his transition back into the world.

"I've got to take him out and show him how to buy a sandwich," attorney David Wymore said this morning, only half joking.

Masters, 36, was freed Tuesday after 9 1/2 years behind bars. The move came after a judge tossed out his conviction in the Feb. 11, 1987, murder of Peggy Lee Hettrick, a department manager at a Fort Collins Fashion Bar store. Wymore and attorney Maria Liu had spent months laying the foundation for a new trial, unearthing documents that were never turned over to the lawyers who defended Masters at his trial.

However, his freedom was the result of scientific tests that linked skin-cell DNA found on Hettrick's clothing to a former boyfriend of hers.

Wymore and Liu began working today to help Masters as he learns how to live in the world.

They were making arrangements to assess his physical well-being, and they were also working to get him counseling.

They also were trying to keep him away from "the entertainment industry," Wymore said.

"The problem is I'm a trial lawyer," Wymore said. "I'm trying to figure this stuff out for him. I need a lot of help, but I'm not going to get it from Dr. Phil or Larry King.

"I don't need any pop psychologists."

Rocky Mountain News