Nifonged in Fort Collins: Timothy Masters
Today's Fort Collins (CO) Weekly features a compelling story detailing Timothy Masters' quest for a new trial after discovering that Eighth Judicial District Court Judges Terrence Gilmore and Jolene Blair, two of the prosecutors in his case, pulled a Nifong and willfully withheld exculpatory evidence that police suspected three other men, including one who confessed to the crime and another whose home overlooked the crime scene and committed suicide after his arrest, had committed the murder Master's was convicted of.
Armed with little more than graphic but unrelated pictures drawn by the then 15 year old Masters and a willingness to withhold evidence and commit perjury, Gilmore and Blair convinced a jury that “no one else” but Masters could have been the murderer. Masters conviction, upheld by the Colorado Appellate Court and Supreme Court when other evidentiary rules and the introduction of character evidence were reviewed and found to be sound, is currently under post-conviction review which began in 2003 based on the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
