Font Size

Colorado & Denver News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Masters' Lawsuit For Compensation Could Be Tough

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Jan 23, 2008 6:27 am US/Mountain

Masters' Lawsuit For Compensation Could Be Tough

Reporting
Raj Chohan

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: Timothy Masters
CBS
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: Peggy Hettrick
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Related Links

Special Prosecutors' Court Filing

If prosecutors in Larimer County decide to drop all charges against Timothy Masters for the murder of Peggy Hettrick, legal experts say he'll have a tough fight if he decides to sue the government for compensation after more than 9 years in prison.

Masters' lawyers would have to prove willful and wanton misconduct on the part of investigators to overcome the defense of governmental immunity.

"Government officials are generally immune from suit unless they act maliciously, if they make a mistake they can't be sued, if they make the wrong choice, they can't be sued," said Bob Grant, former district attorney for Adams County.

The government can be sued for intentional misconduct intended to harm Masters.

The special prosecutor who moved to have the murder conviction and sentence set aside, has already admitted four pieces of potentially exculpatory evidence was never turned over to Masters' trial defense team. The key question will be, was it intentional?

"You have to believe that law enforcement generally believed that Tim Masters committed this horrible crime," said Craig Silverman, a defense attorney and former prosecutor. "That being the case you cannot hide evidence favorable to Tim Masters just because you think he is guilty."

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here

Your Name
Your E-Mail * Will not be displayed with comment
Suggest Link * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
Your Comment

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login

Password:

Forgot Password | Register Here

Close Window Flag Comment

You are flagging the following comment:

Username:
E-mail:
Reason:

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.