If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. He said that Lundberg had told him that Rastegar had wavered a little bit in his statement but that Lundberg had also let him know that the gist was the same and nothing substantively had changed from what he had already written in his affidavit. Testimony continues Friday, during which Lord may take the witness stand. Ill tell you this about Mikey: his motto was I love my life. Every time something worked out, hed be like, I love my life. In fact, Jaffe said, Burnside had used that very phrase that evening because his company was about to bill $70,000 for work it had done in a single week. . The First 48 (2004- ) In Dallas, when a good Samaritan is gunned down trying . We understand that people get upset, get scared, get angryand when all those emotions are happening at once, people do things., He paused and kept his eyes on Lord. Lord told her friends and family that Burnside definitely liked to have a good time. Sometimes I want to walk inside, thinking he will be there. Why did you wait seven minutes before calling 911? he yelled. One of the few black detectives in the unit, Thompson quickly made his mark. | Privacy Statement. She had loved dogs and painting. Stars Eric Barnes Monica Cordova Rick Duggan See production, box office & company info Watch on A&E Go to aetv.com More watch options What he needed was irrefutable evidence pointing to Lords involvement in the shooting. Lord was charged with murder a month after her boyfriend shot himself. Merritt had an uncanny knack for catching killers. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. It was Burnsides father. The idea that she would put a gun to his head and pull the trigger is just unfathomable.. He took her to dinner, and the date lasted the entire weekend. Yes. Im innocent.. Political career [ edit] In 2014, Thompson ran for election to represent District 10 in the Tennessee House of Representatives, but lost to Republican incumbent Steve McManus. In Lords case, while she was arrested by Dallas police it was soon shown that there was no murder; her boyfriend had committed suicide. Why, he wanted to know, would a man suddenly shoot himself after what seemed to be a routine argument with his girlfriend? When Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson checks out a missing persons apartment and finds it covered in blood, he's launched into one of the strangest cases in his career--a case that he must solve without the victim's body. I asked Lord if she had said anything to Burnside that night that would have led him to believe that the relationship was over. She did her own interviews, speaking, for instance, with a firefighter who said he believed he had accidentally kicked the gun away from Burnsides body. Burnside told her that he was under financial stress, having to pay both his mortgage and his income taxes. Im trying to figure out how to move on with my life, she said recently, sitting at a back table at an Italian restaurant in North Dallas. Theres no way my son shot himself,John said. Dwayne Thompson Associate (Antitrust, Competition and Trade) at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Had she washed up with towels before the paramedics and police arrived? Dwayne Thompson (born October 6, 1950) is an American politician. But she was pointedly not invited to a get-together that Burnsides friends were throwing after the service at one of his favorite bars. Dwayne Thompson and Kim Sanders are both grizzled veterans of the Dallas police homicide unit. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? Im not even sure the word accident was used. He said he later surmised that Lord had shot Burnside because he had heard a story going around the neighborhood that Burnside had been shot in the back of the head, which would suggest he had been murdered. . . I think Michael might have gotten the impression that I was going to leave him, she said. A uniformed officer walked over and told Thompson that the house belonged to a man named Michael Burnside, age thirty. | Editor Nearly a year after the shooting, a grand jury met and heard the evidence. When Shearin asked if he had told anyone that there was blood spatter on Lords clothing, he replied, I may have said it, but I dont know whether I said it or not. Shearin then asked about the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides skull. Shearin ordered Lords cellphone records and received more good news: there was no seven-minute gap in her calls. Lord said that she and Burnside had gotten into an argumentsomething about a birthday party. But Lord wanted her arrest to be permanently removed from her record, which would require her to be no-billed by a grand jury, a finding in which the jurors refuse to indict a suspect, primarily for a lack of evidence. People drink all the time who own guns, Thompson said. Thompson has still destroyed my life and hes still out there working cases. Yes, the video of him interviewing her is pretty rough, and it looks like he comes across as a bully. In the video, Rastegar initially seemed to confirm what he had supposedly told Thompson and Lundberg on the porch. You were very disappointed. On May 14, five days after the shooting, Lord finally left her mothers house to attend Burnsides funeral with her family and friends. Thompson picked up his cellphone and called Burnsides father, John, a successful Dallas business analyst. Lundberg then brought up the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides brain. What this trial is about is whether this detective had probable cause to believe that she did it. Then Schuette began listing all the reasons that would make a detective like Thompson believe Lord had killed her boyfriend. The towels had been on the floor to soak up the water that had spilled when the dishwasher valve broke. Tittle next called to the stand a retired Dallas homicide detective named Kim Sanders, who said that Thompsons interrogation of Lord was outlandish and that he left out key evidence in his arrest warrant. Then she looked at Thompson. An expert witness with expertise as both a retired officer and homicide detective from the same police department, testified on Lords behalf. The day after the verdict, Thompson was placed on desk duty. Thompson and Lundberg drove to Rastegars house. Thompson asked Lundberg if he thought it was possible that a person who was much shorter than Burnsidesomeone, say, who was five feet two inches tall, the height of Olivia Lordcould have aimed the Beretta at a 45-degree angle toward Burnsides head and pulled the trigger? (For a philosophy class, she wrote a paper on Socrates being sentenced to death under false charges.) Lord shook her head. Thats Olivia Lord, he told Thompson. I heard what I thought was glass shattering really loud, Lord said. For someone to say Dwayne maliciously would go after Miss Lord and try to set her up, I would say, You have the wrong guy, said Andrea Handley, one of the offices senior prosecutors. Both have worked numerous murders and each has been featured on the popular A&E reality television show, For the rest of the month, Burnsides father regularly called Thompson to get updates on the investigation. And who knows? I do believe you killed him. But those mistakes do not amount to malice., Tittle, however, wasted no time going on the attack, telling the jury in his opening statement, There is not and was not a shred of credible evidence to suggest that Olivia Lord had anything to do with Michaels death. She fell to her knees and said it was an accident and that she didnt mean to shoot him. A police officer receives a high degree of protection when he conducts a criminal investigation. He had been a good-looking young man, with a magnificent, wide grin. Basically she said, I know the kind of stuff that goes on in Vegas, Jaffe told Thompson. All we want is for Olivia to go through a criminal trial, said John Burnside, sitting with Cindi in their East Dallas home. As Lord hugged Tittle and members of her family, Thompson stood at the defense table, his mouth open. Several months later, when he called Lord to refinance his home, their other relationships had ended. She was so in love with him that she was always able to forgive him when he screwed uplike the night of her birthday, when he got rip-roaring drunk, staggered around the restaurant, and didnt even pay for dinner. The lawyer was reluctant to open the door. Lord could hardly look at him. The detectives in charge of the investigation had concluded that there was no evidence to substantiate that Det. And he knew she was hiding something, he said. He said when he came up to Lord in the yard, she fell to her knees and said something to the effect of Hes dying. Rastegar told Lundberg, I got the impression she was trying to tell me it was accidental. After arriving at his house, which was a ten-minute drive away, he had received a call from Lord. I was picking at him all night long about that, she said. Basing an opinion on over 30 years with the Dallas Police Department, Kim Sanders explained that the Lord interrogation was intimidation, not questioning, and as Thompson handled the questioning it was a textbook example of how police can get false confessions. Thompson misrepresented any facts or falsified any government documents. They also declared that there was no evidence that Det. | Advertising Strapped around his shoulders was a thick brown leather holster that held his department-issued pistol, a 9mm Sig Sauer. Lord hired Don Tittle, a high-profile Dallas lawyer who specializes in civil rights litigation, to file a lawsuit against Thompson, which he did in late 2011. Lord claimed that Burnside, who was intoxicated, shot himself.Thompson rejected the theory that Burnside committed suicide and investigated the death as murder. 1983 claiming that she was wrongfully arrested for a killing that she did not commit, which landed her in jail for nine days. Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $800,000.00. And the bullet had exited toward the top of the left side of Burnsides head. After going through perfunctory questions about what happened that night, Thompsons voice boomed without warning. | Articles See production, box office & company info. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. Lundberg also took the stand, testifying that he too remained convinced that Lord was guilty of murder. In 2008, when the producers of The First 48, a reality series on the A&E network about homicide detectives in big-city police departments, came to Dallas to film some episodes, they were riveted by Thompson. In this interrogation method, its deemed acceptable to manipulate through accusations of guilt through an aggressive protocol of nine steps. Thompson stormed out of the room and asked Lundberg to see what he could get out of Lord. She was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants, her knees stained with blood. A light drizzle was falling in the early morning hours of May 9, 2010, when detective Dwayne Thompsonpulled up in front of a modest home on Spring Grove Avenue, in a tree-lined neighborhood in North Dallas. The jurors, however, werent buying any of it. I grabbed him and held him.. But there was one more turn in the story to come. Dwayne Thompson (I) IMDbPro Starmeter. Her fight for justice here began around 3 years ago and ended with last weeks jury verdict. For several seconds, the courtroom was quiet except for Lords muffled sobs. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. Lord continued to deny involvement in the death during questioning, saying she was in the bathroom when she heard the shot and called 911. But, Jaffe added, Burnside didnt wave the gun around. But she maintained her innocence and claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. A 9mm Beretta was also on the floor about five feet from where Burnsides body had been. That wont be possible, said Thompson. Can you possibly understand how I feel?. | Recent Lawyer Listings Ive talked to her many, many times, and if she is lying about what happened, shes a hell of an actress, said one friend, Eric Love. Or he mistakenly pulled the trigger thinking the Beretta was unloaded., Jaffe shook his head. But Love also acknowledges that he is bewildered at the idea of Burnside shooting himself. Shearin made his own presentation, about 25 minutes in length, laying out the case for his clients innocence. Okay, fine. Dwayne Thompson has spent over 18 years with the Dallas Police Department. He had on a dark fedora, a dark suit, a white shirt with a tie, and dress shoes. According to news reports and witness testimony of what happened in that interrogation room, Thompson suddenly became aggressive in his questioning, yelling accusations at a weeping Lord, things like You shot him! Brian, we got a problem, Thompson said. She had volunteered at an AIDS hospice. We loved our life together.. By the end of the interview, Thompson had returned from his lecture and walked into the room. | Sign In, Verdict Corrections Then Jaffe added one more detail. They returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Lord, and ultimately the city had to pay her $1.2 million, which reportedly was the largest judgement of its kind in Dallas. Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. A jury in federal civil court ruled Friday that a Dallas homicide detective, Dwayne Thompson, violated Lord's civil rights by maliciously having her arrested for a killing she didn't commit,. Shearin questioned Lord about the drops of blood around the house. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. . He often said that victimology was the most overlooked part of a homicide investigation even though it could help explain whether a suspect was guilty or innocent. I dont want to answer that, she said. What do you guys think? They make honest, reasonable mistakes. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. During the lengthy interrogation, Thompson repeatedly accused Lord of murdering Michael Burnside, who died in May 2010 from a gunshot wound to the head from his 9 mm Beretta handgun while drunk on vodka and Red Bull. Bring on the Shiplap? February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? She had started dating Burnside, the co-owner of a company that retrofitted homes to make them energy-efficient, about a year earlier. During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. In Texas, both federal and state laws exist to protect people like Hephzibal Olivia Lord from being overwhelmed and mistreated by police during criminal investigations. But, he added, his friend wasnt the type to get married at any point.. Witnesses can shift their statements from one day to the next. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. Your email address will not be published. If I was guilty, would I really have gone out and filed a lawsuit, knowing everything would be brought up again, giving Thompson and all the other naysayers one more chance to come after me?, A few weeks later, I called Lord and asked her again about Burnsides death. He knew it. As Tatia Wilson, one of the City of Dallas attorneys representing Thompson, explained to the jury in her opening statement, Sometimes homicide detectives may make mistakes in their evaluation of the evidence. He was not a depressed type of person at all. There was something else that didnt seem right: drops of blood leading into another room. No, she said again. But Lord insisted he had a good heart. She claimed that Thompson show a reckless disregard for her rights in having Plaintiff arrested in 2010 for the shooting death of her boyfriend, Mcihael Brunside. City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. I know that he could get dramatic and a little crazy when he drank. I wasnt going to leave him. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. Thompson wanted to find out if Lord, under such heated questioning, would crack. Why did you let my son bleed to death on his own kitchen floor? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); With more than 150 jury trials under his belt, Michael Lowe has strong and varied courtroom experience. Although she had her own apartment, she was planning to move in with him as soon as he finished remodeling the house. She told her parents that Thompson had brutalized her. Veteran Dallas police homicide detective Dwayne Thompson is on desk duty pending an internal investigation. Im a person who just lost her boyfriend, Lord wailed. Thompson and Lundberg started talking. (2014) See rank. He wasnt stressed-out, Thompson said. A citizen filing a lawsuit for false arrest must prove that the officer acted with malice, which is difficult to do. She cooked, she cleaned, he was happy.. She had always insisted that she had not fled from the police. Contact info; Agent info; Help contribute to IMDb. Tittle said that Thompson told one of Burnsides friends within 12 hours of the death that he would bet his career that Lord killed Burnside. She had lost her career because potential employers, when running a background check on her, would always find a reference to her arrest for murder. Hephzibah Olivia Lord, distraught and sobbing, sat across from Detective Dwayne A. Thompson in the Dallas Police Departments interview room several hours after her boyfriend had died from a gunshot wound to the head. The way Lord had described it, she and Burnside were deeply in love, and they had been talking about marriage. Mikey said, Im not going to cheat on you in Vegas. Or, asked Shearin, did Thompson say that Burnside was stressed about owing money to the IRS? Edit. Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson and the homicide team investigate the brutal double murders of two friends shot and burned beyond recognition in the trunk of a car. If you have or may be questioned by the police, know your rights. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. That doesnt mean they kill themselves.. Texas law enforcement officers (troopers, police officers, deputies) arrest people then interrogate them and take people into interrogation rooms for questioning as part of crime investigation routinely. I want him brought down.. He spoke to her the way a loving father would talk to his daughter. Seriously, does anyone believe this story that Olivia tells about being in the bathroom and hearing something that sounded like glass breaking in the kitchen? Nor did Burnsides parents invite her to the reception. I want him held accountable. What he didnt say was that the case was going nowhere. Im still going to suffer for the rest of my life for this, she said. And whats really frightening is that Thompson could come back after me, plant some new fake evidence, and arrest me for murder again. I did start dating a guy not long ago, she said after the waiter left. Thompson repeatedly asked Lord during the interview why she waited seven minutes to call 911 after trying to reach a friend of Burnsides by phone. Thompson said he had heard that Burnside was making money. As for Burnsides relationship with Lord, Jaffe said, It was one of those old-school-type things. Jaffe was sitting in a plastic chair next to a small table pushed against a wall. Perhaps sensing that the jury had turned against the detective, Jason Schuette, another attorney for the City of Dallas, resorted to a surprise tactic in his final arguments. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Det. Compared with Thompson, Lundberg was a quiet man who wore glasses and spoke slowly. According to Lord, he became obnoxious and sarcastic, which often happened when he drank. On the floor was a pool of blood along with bloody towels. On May 11, 2011, in the case of Texas v. Lord, the grand jury returned a no bill. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Shed given her telephone to her aunt, who was screening her calls. At Christmas, you thought you were going to get a ring. Yes you did!. But he stayed in the bedroom, pacing, walking around, yelling at me, screaming, angry. Finally, after he couldnt get her to respond to him, he left the room. 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