If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. In August, three months after the shooting, Shearin requested an examining trial, a legal procedure in which a police officer must appear in a magistrates court to lay out the probable cause for the arrest of a suspect in a felony case. For more information, see Michael Lowes Things to Know if You are Being Investigated for a Crime in Texas and our blog postSalinas v. Texas: Your Silence During Police Interrogation Does Not Get 5th Amendment Protection, Can Be Used Against You As Evidence Of Guilt To The Jury.. Can you possibly understand how I feel?. This has been kind of a sexy case here: an attractive female shoots the boyfriend, you solve the crime. He is a Democrat representing District 96 in the Tennessee House of Representatives . He allowed a few seconds to pass. Nevertheless, as far as Thompson was concerned, that did not eliminate her as a suspect. Shearin questioned Lord about the drops of blood around the house. Its insane, he was overheard saying one afternoon at a restaurant near the police department. Trailer 0:21. Dwayne Thompson has spent over 18 years with the Dallas Police Department. He called the tone and line of questioning a formula for a false confession. And Sanders questioned why Thompson did not read Lord her right to remain silent after the point in which he clearly considered her a murder suspect during the interview. But when she realized how serious his injury wasI think I saw a spot on his head, she saidshe called 911 several times. He told Lundberg that he wasnt sure this was a suicide. Was there a chance he was involved in the shooting? Witnesses can shift their statements from one day to the next. Thompson wanted to find out if Lord, under such heated questioning, would crack. Jaffe called Thompson back the next day and said that he had reached Lord. She wanted to not only vindicate herself but also make sure the public knew just what Thompson had done to her. The only thing I can tell you that might make any sense to anybody is that when hes drunk, hes very irrational, she said. Lord spent the next four days at her mothers home in the Dallas suburbs, lying in bed, taking sleeping pills. Anonymous On May 14, five days after the shooting, Lord finally left her mothers house to attend Burnsides funeral with her family and friends. The lawsuit claimed that Thompson had violated Lords civil rights by engaging in malicious prosecutionin particular, that he had intentionally misrepresented the facts about Burnsides shooting and omitted significant exculpatory information that would have proved Lord innocent of any wrongdoing. Come on., Lord closed her eyes when I asked her about those detractors who continue to believe shes hiding something. . She explained that after she had found Burnside, her calls to 911 kept getting dropped due to a weak signal on her cellphone. Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. After she graduates, she hopes to go to law school and perhaps someday work for the Innocence Project. No, said Quinton, Thompson hadnt mentioned either of those things. 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. 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. Lord seemed to be trying to control her breathing. A bullet hole was in a wall near the ceiling. Physical evidence can be more baffling than conclusive. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. (Thompson still hadnt told anyone outside his office about the discrepancy.) For several seconds, the courtroom was quiet except for Lords muffled sobs. There was no sign that he had struggled with an assailantno bruises or scratches on his skin, no scuffed knuckles. Why did you wait seven minutes before calling 911? he yelled. How are you going to explain that to his family? City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. And now hes dead, he said. Individuals have a right to counsel when they are being questioned, this is part of the Miranda warning. Why try to make money off Michaels death?. And then she burst into tears. He was wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals. The judge ruled that there had been probable cause to arrest Lord, though the testimony in the examining trial did little to prove or disprove Lords guilt. They can try too hard to make the existing evidence fit their theory as to who is guilty. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. And now you have this thing where he was spending a lot of money on his friend, but he didnt spend near as much money on your birthday. I loved my boyfriend.. Its so ridiculous. You think they are going to accept this bullshit you are giving me?, For the next hour, Thompson continued to berate Lord, trying to get her to crack. In October 2008 a mutual friend introduced her and Burnside at a small bar on Dallass Lower Greenville Avenue. 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. He also had run up some debt: he owed a rental car company money for crashing one of its vehicles, and he had received letters from the IRS demanding that he pay more than $50,000 in back taxes. When the lab report on the gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. Required fields are marked *. 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? Leave them blank to get signed up. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Yes, the video of him interviewing her is pretty rough, and it looks like he comes across as a bully. 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. 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.. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. His voice got even softer. Thompson just happened to be standing at the detectives desk, and he was more than happy to talk to Shearin. She has also enrolled in college for the first time. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. I wasnt going to leave him, she said, her voice breaking. Its psychological pressure as opposed to physical force, however many believe that the result, coercion, can be the same even though no blows are struck. You were very disappointed. An expert witness with expertise as both a retired officer and homicide detective from the same police department, testified on Lords behalf. 4. She helped him with his finances, reminding him to pay his bills and to keep his spending in line. It was a very overwhelming issue., Thompson leaned back in his chair and stared at Lord. He spoke to her the way a loving father would talk to his daughter. And even if he took a shortcut or two, he adds, he didnt hide or invent evidence. But a Dallas County grand jury later declined to indict her. Compared with Thompson, Lundberg was a quiet man who wore glasses and spoke slowly. Lord explained again and again that while she was in the bathroom, her boyfriend shot himself (they had been fighting, he was drunk). See full summary . 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. Thompson has still destroyed my life and hes still out there working cases. 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. If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. But there was no corruption involved. 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. Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. In this trial, Lord was definitely the underdog. He called Jaffe, who had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him locate her. Dwayne Thompson (born October 6, 1950) is an American politician. He was so compelling in front of the cameracajoling witnesses to open up and then lashing out at a suspectthat he looked like a television actor playing a detective. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? At around twelve-thirty, the officer continued, a woman had called 911 from the house. It found that two particles characteristic of primer gunshot residue had been discovered on the back of Burnsides right hand and that one particle characteristic of primer gunshot residue had been discovered on the back of Lords left hand. Her voice shook when she spoke. Lundberg walked into the interview room, pulled his chair close to Lord, and played the role of the good cop. By the first of June, hed put aside Lords file to work on his other cases. It was a stupid fight., Jaffe paused. Lord spent 9 days in jail before a Dallas Grand Jury refused to indict her for the crime. She needed pills to go to sleep. The detective told him that he was doing what he could. January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Finally, after Thompson barked at him, he stepped onto the front porch and told a flabbergasting story. As for the question of blood spatter on Lords clothes, however, Quinton did have a definite opinion. The officer pointed to a woman sitting on a chair in the front yard, her face in her hands. Why, for instance, were there bottles of cleaning products scattered on the kitchen floor? And, Thompson guessed, she had wiped down her hands and arms with the towels he had seen on the kitchen floor. I cant say any more, but its insane.. Thompson studied Lord and Jaffe for a moment, then walked over to them. Im devastated., Thompson bore down. 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