Tim Masters Case: A question of questions

Whenever I hear students complain about college, I will say they haven't suffered anywhere near the injustice that Tim Masters has in his life. Masters spent 10 years in a Colorado prison before being freed last year when new evidence surfaced in the 1987 murder case of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins.

My investigative reporting class last week attended a public forum with Masters and his defense attorneys at the University of Wyoming. We had just covered a chapter in our textbook about investigating police and court misconduct, and the Masters case was a textbook example.

According to his attorney, Masters was convicted mainly by a psychological profile based on violent drawings made when he was 15 years old. The drawings mostly were of Friday the 13th type slashers and monsters. Now, Masters has filed a lawsuit against Fort Collins.

For stories about Masters and how the legal system was twisted and perverted to unjustly imprison him, see a series from the Rocky Mountain News.

I was interested to hear Masters talk about his experiences and his thoughts about how to reform the legal system. Unfortunately, most of the program was dominated by his main defense attorney. However, Masters did answer a few questions that were supposedly submitted by UW law students.

The questions included: What was your worst experience in prison? His answer: Everything. Another question: What was your best experience in prison? Answer: Nothing.

These were some of the lamest questions I've ever heard. If that's the best UW law students can come up with, I wouldn't hire any of them if they ever pass the bar.

The next investigative reporting class, I asked students to think of two good questions that an investigative reporter might ask Masters in an interview. Here are a few of them:

• Describe the interrogations. What kind of questions were you asked? How were those questions directed at you? Were any of the circumstances particularly memorable (emotionally draining)?
• I would ask if he and his lawyers are planning to add the police into their civil lawsuit. It sounds like they crossed the line.
• I would ask Tim and his lawyers how big of a role the media played during those years shortly after the crime happened and then when he went to trial. How did the media make him look?
• Who do you hold most responsible for your convictions, the prosecutors or the police? Why?

If I could have asked questions, I would like to know if he wants his civil lawsuit to go to trial so he can have his day in court, or if he is willing to settle?

I'd also like to know if he still draws.