Some Thoughts on Tim Masters' Release
In a packed courtroom in Fort Collins today, amidst television camera crews from 20 national and regional networks, Judge Joe Weatherbee vacated Tim Masters murder conviction and ordered him released on a personal recognizance bond. The hearing was attended by 40 of Masters' relatives as well as lawyers, law professors and members of law enforcement. 9News streamed it live on the Internet. CNN gave it prominent attention from the weekend through today. If you haven't yet acquainted yourself with the case, check out the Denver Post's special section on the case. To date, more than 200 inmates have been freed from prison after DNA testing either not available or not produced at their trials established their innocence. Most receive a day's worth of press. How many of their names can the public remember afterwards? I'd be astonished if there was a single one. The public is more apt to believe in guilty until proven innocent than the other way around. Guilt sells in the media and typically, stories about innocence don't get much play. The Tim Masters case has been an exception. Something gelled with the public about Tim Masters. What was it? The baby-faced photo of him at age 15 when the murder occurred? Disapproval of the shaky evidence used to convict him -- a shrink who never met Masters opining to a jury that his violent high school drawings were indicative of someone who symbolically wanted to kill his mother? Or that the public is taking greater interest in the proven fallibilities of our criminal justice system and saying, "Enough." I hope it's the latter. I also hope everyone recognizes the dedication and years of effort Tim Masters' lawyers, Maria Liu, David Wymore and the rest of the defense team (including their investigators and experts) devoted to his case . Public defenders are underfunded, understaffed and underpaid. They work very hard for very little glory. What doesn't get enough attention is that they are also highly skilled and dedicated. Our hats should be off to them today.
Comments
Submitted by Cindy Herrick (not verified) on Thu, 2008-01-24 02:15.
What if Tim Masters had been sentenced to death? The errors that occur in wrongful convictions is exactly why I don't believe in the death penalty. Until our judicial system is PERFECT, I don't think we can use execution as a form of punishment. As far as the nine year chunk of Mr. Master's life that was taken away from him...it's a high price to pay for other people's mistakes made in the courtroom. We need to use ALL means necessary to prove a person's innocence...as well as their guilt.
Submitted by Mama Kaye (not verified) on Thu, 2008-01-24 00:08.
What a shame that Tim Masters sat in prison while OJ walked free. Daniel is right, it can (and does) happen to anyone. Congratulations to Tim. I wish him all wonderful things to make up for the time he lost. And hope that the DNA evidence leads to the conviction of the real killer.
Submitted by Daniel Roberts (not verified) on Wed, 2008-01-23 16:09.
I meant to say..."I feel our children and grandchildren will never know true freedom and true justice ever again" - I apologize for the typo.
Submitted by Daniel Roberts (not verified) on Wed, 2008-01-23 16:05.
This is a perfect example of a runaway justice system that we have converted too over the last 20 years. Tim Masters got convicted with no evidence tying him to the crime. People go to jail every day for something they didn't do, because our Justice system refuses to follow the Constitution.
He will never get those years back. They are gone forever. Whatever life he would have had... a career, a wife, kids, maybe even been a business owner, now forever jaded and long gone. Why? Because some Prosecutor wanted a feather in their hat with a conviction.
What's worse is that dead woman's family. They now know the real person who is guilty of horribly killing her is still free, has gotten away with it, and their so called "closure" was false.
Anybody here who reads this, who comments, with our unconstitutional police state growing as it is, can be convicted of a murder they didn't do. No matter how poor, wealthy or whatever your age is, you can be convicted without evidence, without a murder weapon, without anything tying you to the crime.
This bothers me, and I hope it bothers enough Americans out there to want to do something about it some time in the near future. Because if we don't, when a police man knocks on your door, now it's an event to be terrified over. Sounds like a communist country, doesn't it?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-American, I love this country. I simply remember what it used to be like to require things like physical evidence linking to the crime and motive to put a person on trial for murder. I remember what it used to be like to have rights. And we are a dying breed. I pray our children and grandchildren will never know true freedom and true justice ever again.
