Thirty-three years ago, the Fort Collins Police Department framed a high school kid for a murder he didn’t commit. They had no evidence to support the charge, and his only link to the crime is that he spotted the body. The key bad cop finally resigned today.
Lt. James Broderick, a central figure in the case that led to the wrongful conviction Tim Masters for murder, has resigned after nearly 33 years with Fort Collins police.
Broderick was on paid administrative leave with the department since June 2010, when he was indicted by a grand jury on charges of felony perjury related to his handling of the case against Masters.
Those charges were dismissed because the statutes of limitations had expired, but Broderick was indicted again on similar charges in 2011. Those charges also were dismissed, a decision that was appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Reblogged this on Climate Ponderings.
Please keep him in Colorado.
This is going to cost the taxpayers of Colorado a lot of money. Civilian Broderick ought to responsible for the bulk of it. I realize that being a policeman is not easy. But playing by the rules is necessary, and you don’t pad your arrest record by sending someone who is innocent to prison.
This news might make your day a bit brighter:
http://clashdaily.com/2013/03/hell-yeah-alert-co-sheriff-says-new-gun-laws-wont-be-enforced/
That is good to know. Weld County.is only a few miles away, but they still suffer from state income tax. ROFL.
In the Dateline videos there are many cases that are reversed where law enforcement corruption seems to have been involved yet it is seldom addressed in those videos. When there exists a Blue Code of Silence how much corruption is being concealed and fostered? One Dateline video told of how a detective persisted against his supervisors opposition investigating another officer. Since that officer has been convicted the detective is now persona non grata throughout Southern California. Another, on the 48 Hours show, was never nailed for tricking an innocent teen into speculating how he would have done it. The teen prefaced his remarks with the words, “My vision…” yet he served decades before finally being exonerated.