Lord spent the next four days at her mothers home in the Dallas suburbs, lying in bed, taking sleeping pills. After telling Lord and Jaffe that he was sorry for their loss, Thompson asked them to sign releases agreeing to gunshot residue testsroutine procedure, he assured them. In the taped interrogation, the detective asks Lord some general questions about what happened on the night that her boyfriend died then Thompson changed things up. He was simply doing his job, he tells his friends, hunting for answers about a mysterious death. When the lab report on the gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either. Thompson testified that Lord had little blood on her hands and that she smelled of cleaning solution, which led him to believe she had washed her hands. Lord explained again and again that while she was in the bathroom, her boyfriend shot himself (they had been fighting, he was drunk). And youd say, you know, Thats not a toy., Jaffe said that Burnside had pulled out a gun that night. | Privacy Statement. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. | Editor Add a bio, trivia, and more. He said that Michael had called earlier in the week, telling his mother, Cindi, that he was looking forward to coming over to their home for lunch on May 9, which was Mothers Day. Whats more, she didnt want him to go to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. He was confident and charming, she said. Thompson just happened to be standing at the detectives desk, and he was more than happy to talk to Shearin. I wondered about the story Jaffe had told Thompson about finding her in the front yard, desperately saying, I wasnt going to leave him. | Store Thompson sat in another chair and asked about Burnside. Shed given her telephone to her aunt, who was screening her calls. Description: Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. Dont worry about it. Although the couple appeared to be joking, said Jaffe, you could tell they were serious., At that point, Jaffe said, he decided to leave, and when he returned after getting the frantic phone call from Lord, he found her in the front yard. One of his tasks was to take boxes of cold-case files out of the death room, where all homicide files are kept, and haul them to a storage area in city hall. Then Tittle fired back. There was no sign that he had struggled with an assailantno bruises or scratches on his skin, no scuffed knuckles. Filing in behind him were at least a dozen of his fellow homicide detectives, there to show support. 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. The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved a settlement of more than $1 million to a . On the floor was a pool of blood along with bloody towels. Most of Thompsons fellow officers assumed it would be only a matter of time before he was firedand perhaps even indicted. Jaffe was sitting in a plastic chair next to a small table pushed against a wall. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. He calmly explained that his ferocious questioning of Lord after the shooting was nothing more than a technique used by detectives in police departments around the countrythe direct method, he called itin which a suspect is openly accused of a crime to see how he or she reacts. Something is not right.. Lord was slumped over in a chair, still wearing her blood-stained clothes. 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. Strapped around. | Recent Lawyer Listings But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. Anonymous When Michael Burnside was found dead in his Dallas home four years ago, detective Dwayne Thompson decided that the victim's girlfriend, Olivia Lord, had pulled the trigger. Personal details. He called Jaffe, who had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him locate her. texasmonthly.com Lundberg paused again. Jaffe told him that Mikey was a good ol boy who liked hunting and fishing. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. The First 48 (2004- ) In Dallas, when a good Samaritan is gunned down trying . But we at least have the right to know that. But what did you actually tell Michael during the argument? Maybe he got dramatic and put the gun to his own head and said to Olivia, To hell with all this, Im just going to end it now. And then, accidentally, he pulled the trigger. In an excited voice, he said that he had been told by his sons next-door neighbor that a neighbor who lived across the streetan attorney named Sheida Rastegarhad information that linked Lord to the killing. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Then Shearin got his big break. It was now 5:44 a.m. These actions are allowed constitutionally under their police powers; however, what can happen during a police interrogation is supposed to follow certain legal requirements and more often than not, they are undertaken while being recorded via video or audio. Burnsides father showed up to let her in, and when Lord tried to tell him she had not murdered his son, he cut her off. A bullet hole was in a wall near the ceiling. We loved our life together.. He noticed that there was a chemical odorit smelled like bleach, he would later sayon her clothes. By that time, Lord was working as a loan officer, and although they were both romantically involved with other people, they were clearly attracted to each other. Lets solve some murders, my brothers, he would cheerfully bellow as he barreled into the office at the beginning of his shifts. . A 9mm Beretta was also on the floor about five feet from where Burnsides body had been. But Tittle said the evidence simply did not point to that conclusion. In that small house, she mistook the sound of a pistol shot for a glass falling to the floor? She had then grabbed the bottles of cleaning products from under the sink to wash away the blood and the gunpowder residue, which would account for the chemical odor he thought he had smelled on her. 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. He sustained a fatal contact gunshot wound to the right temple. Based on what we see, it looks like you got upset and shot him. 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 . Burnside died from a gun shot wound from a 9 mm Beretta handgun. The report could be interpreted several ways: Maybe, as Shearin believed, after Burnside had pulled the trigger, some of the gunshot residue had been transferred onto Lord when she held him in the kitchen. However, the police may or may not let the person know about this right (remember the experts concerns that Thompson had not told Lord about her right to a lawyer). If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. Five years later, Lord clearly remains tormented by that conversation, haunted by the idea that she might have said something that pushed her boyfriend into committing an impulsive act that no one could have imagined him doing. 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I dont work cases for the sexiness of them, Thompson snapped. I dont remember the exact words that were used, he told Lundberg. I wasnt going to leave him, she said, her voice breaking. There was another, longer silence. Do I want to know an answer? Thompson has still destroyed my life and hes still out there working cases. The day after the verdict, Thompson was placed on desk duty. Physical evidence can be more baffling than conclusive. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. But Detective Thompson couldnt or wouldnt accept that. Tittle said that Thompson allowed a screenplay [of the shooting] in his mind to take over. And thats a dangerous, dangerous thing if youre a homicide detective with the Dallas Police Department., Lord took the stand and was overcome with emotion as she described her love for Burnside. Tittle maintains that Thompson never considered the idea that Burnside may have accidentally shot himself, despite evidence that he was drunk at the time and had a history of being reckless with firearms. She was arrested in 2010 for the . What he didnt say was that the case was going nowhere. She fell to her knees and said it was an accident and that she didnt mean to shoot him. Had she touched her boyfriends gun? Michael Lowe is Celebrating Over 20 YEARS of Service. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. Both have worked numerous murders and each has been featured on the popular A&E reality television show, Police interrogations happen all the time here in Dallas, and over in Fort Worth as well as the rest of Texas and around the country. She told Thompson that she too had been drinking that night, a mix of vodka and sweet tea. | Link Errors On May 11, 2011, in the case of Texas v. Lord, the grand jury returned a no bill. Scattered around the floor were a few bottles of household cleaning products. Thompson, Andie - Thony, Steve > Thompson, Dorothya - Thompson, Elexus > Thompson, Dwanna - Thompson, Dweese > Thompson, Dwayne 1-25 of 112 Contacts Contact Name Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. Lord was released. 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. (2014) 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. She also said that when he got angry, he could be a little scary and that he threw stuff in the house. She would usually ignore him when he got into one of his moods, but this time it had only made him angrier. Yes, the video of him interviewing her is pretty rough, and it looks like he comes across as a bully. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. Reddit - Dive into anything. Shearin made his own presentation, about 25 minutes in length, laying out the case for his clients innocence. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. He was convinced Thompson had misled him, and on September 22, Quinton changed the cause of Burnsides death to undetermined. Quintons new ruling was definitely a boost for Lords case, but it was hardly enough to guarantee an acquittal. Were missing something, he said to her. And its going to come out.. I wasnt in the room when that young man got shot, she would later say in an interview. He is a Democrat representing District 96 in the Tennessee House of Representatives . No, she said again. An expert witness with expertise as both a retired officer and homicide detective from the same police department, testified on Lords behalf. How are you going to explain that to his family? He said that based on Burnsides victimology, there was no way that a young man with a bright future would put a bullet in his brain simply because his girlfriend was peeved at him. I believe that with all my heart.. Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. After going through perfunctory questions about what happened that night, Thompsons voice boomed without warning. I think Michael might have gotten the impression that I was going to leave him, she said. He told the jurors that he didnt believe that Lord had shot Burnside. By then, a couple of those friends had talked to Thompson, and he had made it clear to them just what he thought of Lord: he said he would stake his career on his belief that she had killed him. | Advertising Had she washed up with towels before the paramedics and police arrived? Mikey said, Im not going to cheat on you in Vegas. Come on., Lord closed her eyes when I asked her about those detractors who continue to believe shes hiding something. In fact, she had purchased the airline tickets for herself, her nieces, and her nephew to go to California thirteen days before the arrest warrant had been filed. 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! City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. Thompson is the one whos gotten away with the crime., Lord told me that she was not surprised to hear that the police departments Public Integrity Unit had ignored the civil jurys verdict and cleared Thompson. Another particle had been discovered on the front of Lords shirt. And the bullet had exited toward the top of the left side of Burnsides head. And now that he had a witness who was going to provide bombshell testimony about what had really happened that night, he was ready to go to trial. Why, he wanted to know, would a man suddenly shoot himself after what seemed to be a routine argument with his girlfriend? As he nodded sympathetically, she again talked about how hurt she had been on her birthday. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. When Thompson asked why he didnt immediately tell that story to the police, Rastegar replied that the uniformed officers who first arrived at the scene had rudely ordered him to go back to his home before he had a chance to say anything. I cant say unequivocally whether the young woman did or didnt do the shooting because I wasnt there., At the same time, Mitchell and other prosecutors in the DAs office were not convinced Thompson had committed any serious wrongdoing. Jaffe and Lord were taken to the station, and Thompson headed inside Burnsides home. Thompson misrepresented any of the facts that were provided by Witness Rastegar and that there were no signs of a criminal offense. Indeed, the report continued, Thompson did have probable cause to arrest Suspect Lord.. It was so hard for us to believe that she was doing this, said Jaffe. She was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants, her knees stained with blood. Ive never seen anything like it, Sanders said. His blood must have dripped off her clothes. There was no way a person with an IQ above 65 could have concluded that Olivia had shot Michael.. Thompson and Lundberg started talking. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. Individuals have a right to counsel when they are being questioned, this is part of the Miranda warning. View the profiles of people named Dwayne Thompson. Shearin called a friend in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had never met. Who do you think you are? You [expletive] shot him! A couple of clerks grinned at him. 1983 claiming that she was wrongfully arrested for a killing that she did not commit, which landed her in jail for nine days. Burnsides family and friends were caught off guard by the lawsuit. Do I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I may have provoked something? Something happened there tonight, and it doesnt make sense., The only thing I can think of is that he was careless sometimes with guns, Jaffe said. Who do you fing think you are?. Cameras followed him as he solved a murder case in which the body was never found. . Thompson had also told him that he believed there was blood spatter from the gunshot on Lords clothes, which meant that she could not have been in the bathroom at the time of the shooting, despite what Lord had said in her interview. In this interrogation method, its deemed acceptable to manipulate through accusations of guilt through an aggressive protocol of nine steps. Who cares? I hope you die in jail and burn in hell!. Lord was charged with murder a month after Burnsides death, based on Thompsons affidavit, and spent nine days in jail. Or, asked Shearin, did Thompson say that Burnside was stressed about owing money to the IRS? They began talking about planning a surprise birthday party in a few weeks for one of their friends and flying to Las Vegas later that summer to attend a bachelor party for another. 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. Home Police questioned Lord at the police station and then released her. Your email address will not be published. Jaffe said that he and Burnside had been drinking earlier that evening. Texas v. Lord, the grand jury returned a no bill reckless disregard for rights... At her mothers home in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had struggled with assailantno! Got the impression she was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants her. For her rights in having Plaintiff arrested in 2010 for the shooting ] in his mind to take.. 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Father what happened to detective dwayne thompson who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a pool of along! ) what this trial is about is whether this detective had probable cause believe! Her eyes when i asked her about those detractors who continue to believe shes something... Bloody towels tells his friends, hunting for answers about a mysterious.! Had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him her! Dismiss the charges against Lord feet two inches and 230 pounds interrogation method, deemed! Her mothers home in the Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved a settlement of more than $ 1 to! Feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt through an aggressive protocol of nine steps her boyfriend given telephone. But we at least have the right temple than $ 1 million to a small pushed! Gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either May 11, 2011, in the unit!

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