Posted by By: Shira Moskowitz
Business Manager
Tim Masters at 15
When we are little, if we go to the doctor’s office and get a painful shot, our parents compensate us with a lollipop or an ice cream sundae.
When we are disappointed with the food at a restaurant, the restaurant will give us our meal free to compensate for the bad food or service.
What about if you were wrongly convicted for a crime that you did not do?
Would there be any amount of candy or money that would be able to make that wrongful conviction right?
For Colorado’s Tim Masters, the answer is no.
According to CNN, Tim Masters was only 15 years old when Fort Collins, Colorado police began investigating him as the primary suspect for the murder of a 37 year old woman named Peggy Hettrick, who was found murdered and sexually mutilated by a field near Master’s home.
Police showed no physical evidence in their investigation and prosectors relied mostly on a collection of knives and sketches, and the testimony of a psychologist who implicated Masters without even interviewing him.
In 2008 when citing DNA evidence did not implicate Masters, he was freed. Master’s had been sentenced to jail in 1999 when he had been wrongfully convicted.
Ever since he has been out of jail, Master’s claims that he is unable live a normal life.
Master’s told CNN reporters that he was selling items on e-bay for money, but now his e-bay income has run dry and is currently living in his Aunt’s basement and attending school to be recertified as an aircraft mechanic.
The county has now officially settled for $4.1 million to pay to Master’s by Februrary 25, 2010.
David Wymore, one of the attorneys who represented Master’s in the case, tells CNN that this money is giving Master’s a chance
“… to re-establish himself as a human being.”
When asked about his feeling about the $4.1 million the county has agreed to pay him for compensation of his wrongful conviction, Master’s replied,
“”I would gladly have paid $10 million, or whatever it took, if I could get those years of my life back. Unfortunately, that can never happen. “
Attorney David Wymore says that all Tim Master’s would like to do is be a normal guy with a house, a dog, and a car.
