Nov 6, 2007 10:13 pm US/Mountain
1987 Ft. Collins Murder May Get Nat'l TV Exposure
Timothy Masters Case Watched By '48 Hours' Producer
by Mike Hooker
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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Timothy Masters (File)
CBS
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Peggy Hettrick (File)
CBS
The effort to get a new trial for a convicted murderer in Fort Collins is getting national attention.
Tim Masters was convicted eight years ago for the murder of Peggy Hettrick in 1987. The prosecution's case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence and now the case could soon play out on national television. The CBS News show "48 Hours" has had a producer in Fort Collins for the ongoing series of hearings.
Masters is serving a life sentence. He was 15-years-old when Hettrick was murdered.
Tuesday, Masters' attorney focused on more of the evidence which the defense says prosecutors hid from them, including a sting operation on the anniversary of the murder. Masters' legal team, seeking a new trial, told the judge investigators were using a criminal profile which had been changed to match Masters.
"It (the profile) says, 'The offender may wear a mask.' That's just made up," defense attorney Nathan Chambers said to the court. "It says the offender may wear a mask, and a homemade mask was found in his bedroom."
Defense attorneys said the profile also said the killer would likely collect newspaper articles about the murder, so police put out a deceptive press release and the local paper did a story.
"Then, because the Masters do not take the newspaper, they have it delivered to his house," Chambers said. "Then they say that the fact that newspaper, which they have created and delivered to his house, and is in his possession, is evidence of guilt. Now that is a frame."
Then, during round the clock surveillance the week of the murder anniversary, police waited for Masters to crack, but the teenager was unfazed, the defense said.
"We now know that they schemed and planned to do this elaborate psychological experiment on him and he passed it," Chamber said.
Perhaps most important to Masters case is a deceased eye doctor named Richard Hammond, who Chambers said makes a much better murder suspect than Masters, but prosecutors didn't share the required information.
"The reason they didn't give me Hammond is because if they give me Hammond, the case is not triable (sic), and I say that as a person who has prosecuted a lot of murder cases," Chambers said. "The case is not prosecutable if the government discloses Hammond."
Prosecutors have yet to present their side.
The hearings regarding a new trial are scheduled to continue through the week.
(© MMVII CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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