Terry Gilmore and Jolene Blair, two of the prosecutors in the original Tim Masters’ murder trial, are now judges. Their conduct during the trial is being investigated by the Colorado Supreme Court’s Office of Attorney Regulation. Masters’ attorneys have accused them of withholding key evidence during the trial. It would be a conflict of interest for the Larimer County attorneys to defend them and they have retained outside counsel. Larimer County has agreed to pay their legal fees. Just another cost of a wrongful conviction. In addition to the biggest cost to the public at large, public safety –when the wrong person is convicted, the real perpetrator is still out there– there are big economic costs. The taxpayers of Larimer County can now add the cost of legal fees for the ex-prosecutors to the other costs, such as compensating the person wrongly convicted. The end cost of the Masters debacle will be huge. Let’s hope it’s also a lesson.