Officer charged with perjury in Peggy Hettrick case
In 1987, the body of 37-year-old Peggy Hettrick was found in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado. Investigators, led by Lt. Jim Broderick, suspected a 15-year-old boy named Tim Masters because he lived near the field and created violent artwork and writing which seemed, to some people, to match the injuries to Hettrick’s body. There was not enough evidence to charge Masters, and little happened in the investigation until 1997, when Broderick decided to have Masters’ art and writing analyzed by a forensic psychologist, who supported Broderick’s theory. Masters was then charged with murder and was convicted in 1999, at the age of 27, and sentenced to life in prison, even though there was no physical evidence against him. In 2008, DNA testing excluded his DNA from the crime scene and he was cleared and released from prison.
Now, Broderick has finally been charged with eight counts of perjury for his role in Masters’s wrongful conviction. He allegedly made false statements during the investigation, preliminary hearing, and trial and faces up to 6 years in prison plus a $500,o00 fine for each count.
I think it is about time that those responsible for Masters’s imprisonment be held responsible. He spent nine years in prison, even though the evidence shows that he is most likely completely innocent. Masters’s rights were violated, and whenever someone’s rights are violated, someone is responsible for that violation and ought to be punished. In this case, the people responsible are the law enforcement personnel who tried to pin the crime on Masters despite the lack of evidence against him. The evidence so far suggests that Broderick is chief among those people, and it’s time for Tim Masters to see justice.