He asked her why, after finding Burnside on the floor, she had first called Jaffe but then waited seven minutes before calling 911. Then Tittle fired back. She cooked, she cleaned, he was happy.. If the detectives thought they had noticed the smell of chemicals on her, it must have come from the paint thinner and the floor stripper that she and Burnside had been using that day. Thompson stormed out of the room and asked Lundberg to see what he could get out of Lord. She explained that after she had found Burnside, her calls to 911 kept getting dropped due to a weak signal on her cellphone. Its insane, he was overheard saying one afternoon at a restaurant near the police department. | Articles Shearin went to see Brandi Mitchell, a prosecutor with the Dallas County district attorneys office who was in charge of the Burnside case, and claimed that Thompson had perjured himself. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. Case Style: Hephzibah Olivia Lord v. Dwayne Thompson, Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas County), Defendant's Attorney: James Carroll Butt, J.G. The jury watched it. | Sign In, Verdict Corrections Lord shook her head. 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He actually turned to Lord and said, I know you didnt do it. He turned back to the jury and continued, But thats not the issue in this trial. After the argument was over, Michael stopped being sarcastic and he became quiet and somber. Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. The idea that she would put a gun to his head and pull the trigger is just unfathomable.. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. The way Lord had described it, she and Burnside were deeply in love, and they had been talking about marriage. She had always insisted that she had not fled from the police. Was she Miss Right or Miss Right Now? Thompson asked. And if the young man had shot himself, wouldnt the gun have landed closer to his body? How are you going to explain that to his family? The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. Physical evidence can be more baffling than conclusive. She said that he was a big drinker and that he could sometimes be reckless. In truth, she had called 911 seconds after she had tried to reach Jaffe. Yes. 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. A Dallas County grand jury declined to indict Hephzibah Olivia Lord on a murder charge in connection with the 2010 death of Michael Burnside in his home. He studied the call histories on the phones and took some notes. Im innocent.. Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. Yes, the video of him interviewing her is pretty rough, and it looks like he comes across as a bully. 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. 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. There was something else that didnt seem right: drops of blood leading into another room. Thompson just happened to be standing at the detectives desk, and he was more than happy to talk to Shearin. Thompson wanted to find out if Lord, under such heated questioning, would crack. He was not a depressed type of person at all. 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. January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? He then asked them to ride down to Dallas police headquarters in separate squad cars to give their statements. Although Thompson would not consent to my request for an interview, people who have talked to him say he feels that he has done nothing wrong. Olivia, everyone we talked to said one consistent thing about Michael: that he loved life., He did love life. Burnsides family and friends were caught off guard by the lawsuit. 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. Im devastated., Thompson bore down. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? A police officer receives a high degree of protection when he conducts a criminal investigation. Shearin ordered Lords cellphone records and received more good news: there was no seven-minute gap in her calls. I was picking at him all night long about that, she said. 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. (As he said in one interview for The First 48, Bringing stuff back to life is whats up, Jack.) He taught classes at the Dallas Police Academy, and a private training agency hired him to lead seminars on detective work around the country. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. He remains convinced that he got a raw deal at the civil trial and that Tittle played the video of his interrogation of Lord only to plant in jurors minds the idea that he was an intimidating black man taking advantage of a grieving, attractive white woman. Lundberg paused again. Lord was accused of murder countless times, and she always denied it. This has been kind of a sexy case here: an attractive female shoots the boyfriend, you solve the crime. In Lords case, while she was arrested by Dallas police it was soon shown that there was no murder; her boyfriend had committed suicide. He told Thompson that his son had had the most positive personality of anyone he had ever met. He knew it. Veteran Dallas police homicide detective Dwayne Thompson is on desk duty pending an internal investigation. 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. 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. Don't be scared to look at. And whats really frightening is that Thompson could come back after me, plant some new fake evidence, and arrest me for murder again. Alternative . Stars Eric Barnes Monica Cordova Rick Duggan See production, box office & company info Watch on A&E Go to aetv.com More watch options Thompson asked why there was so little blood on her hands and arms. By the first of June, hed put aside Lords file to work on his other cases. Add a bio, trivia, and more. 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. 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. I wasnt in the room when that young man got shot, she would later say in an interview. As one Dallas County prosecutor put it, They can, even for the most well-intentioned of reasons, get too focused on making an arrest at the detriment of the true story., Mitchell began evaluating Thompsons case against Lord. He is one of the most popular detectives in the Dallas Police Departmenta charismatic man, big and boisterous, with a powerful deep voice, says Craig Miller, a former deputy police chief who served as Thompsons lieutenant in the homicide unit in 2010. Lord glanced at Thompson and he glanced back. A few days after the funeral, Lord called Burnsides brother to ask if she could retrieve some of her belongings from the house. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. 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. And on this morning, Thompson was especially interested in the victimology of Burnside. Instead, he gave Brandi Mitchell everything he had.. She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. Do I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I may have provoked something? Lets solve some murders, my brothers, he would cheerfully bellow as he barreled into the office at the beginning of his shifts. Im still going to suffer for the rest of my life for this, she said. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. 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. Lord could hardly look at him. Thompson said he had heard that Burnside was making money. Sometimes he would think [a gun] was unloaded and he would swing it around, you know, not trying to hurt anybody, just being stupid. 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 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? 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? I want him brought down.. But Tittle said the evidence simply did not point to that conclusion. She was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants, her knees stained with blood. Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. Lundberg also took the stand, testifying that he too remained convinced that Lord was guilty of murder. 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. Lord told her friends and family that Burnside definitely liked to have a good time. But Love also acknowledges that he is bewildered at the idea of Burnside shooting himself. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. . In his free time, he read Civil War history and played Internet chess. Im innocent, Lord kept saying. He took her to dinner, and the date lasted the entire weekend. Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. There was no way a person with an IQ above 65 could have concluded that Olivia had shot Michael.. Wearing a black dress and black heels, Lord came into the courtroom, followed by her friends and family. Strapped around his shoulders was a thick brown leather holster that held his department-issued pistol, a 9mm Sig Sauer. I was leaning over my future husbands body, Lord said. Or maybe in the midst of the argument, Burnside had pulled the Beretta out of the kitchen drawer for a second time, handed it to Lord, and said, in an effort to be dramatic, If you hate me so much, then just shoot me. And she did. But she never did: she kept saying that she loved her boyfriend, that they were happy together, and that he had taken his life for reasons she could not imagine. 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. Both have worked numerous murders and each has been featured on the popular A&E reality television show, For her part, Lord said that she would gladly give up any money in return for Thompsons being sent to prison. But there was no corruption involved. | Link Errors But Detective Dwayne Thompson. He said that he couldnt handle disappointing me on top of all the financial stress and tax problems that he was enduring.. By the end of the interview, Thompson had returned from his lecture and walked into the room. He sustained a fatal contact gunshot wound to the right temple. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. 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. He first worked in patrol, where he was assigned to some of the citys tougher neighborhoods, and then spent ten years as a detective in the robbery and property crimes division before being promoted to homicide, in 2007. Something is not right.. 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! 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. If you have or may be questioned by the police, know your rights. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. She was Miss Right as far as he was concerned, Jaffe replied. And youd say, you know, Thats not a toy., Jaffe said that Burnside had pulled out a gun that night. When he wasnt solving murders, Thompson restored sports cars and tooled around in a black Corvette convertible. He was simply doing his job, he tells his friends, hunting for answers about a mysterious death. 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 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. Yes you did!. The officer flipped a page in his notebook. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Det. Testimony continues Friday, during which Lord may take the witness stand. When Michael Burnside was found dead in his Dallas home after an argument with his girlfriend, detective Dwayne Thompson decided that the victim's girlfriend, Olivia Lord, had pulled the trigger. 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. Shearin asked if Thompson had mentioned that an inebriated Burnside had shown the Beretta to his friend that night. A retired Dallas police officer acting as an expert witness for Lord told the jury there was no evidence that Lord shot Burnside. But Lords attorney, Don Tittle, said the detective was wrong that police records show she called 911 immediately after trying to reach the friend. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. They couldnt get the dishwasher installed because of a broken valve, which sent water all over the floor, so they took a break. Thompsons interrogation of Lord was videotaped. Jaffe said he had been at the house earlier that evening, helping Burnside install a dishwasher while Lord was painting the doors and baseboards, and that he had left before midnight. Ive never seen anything like it, Sanders said. And now hes dead, he said. 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. I loved my boyfriend.. He was wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals. I dont remember the exact words that were used, he told Lundberg. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Lord was charged with murder a month after Burnsides death, based on Thompsons affidavit, and spent nine days in jail. "You look at that. Dallas homicide Detective Dwayne Thompson sits at his desk in 2010, looking over material he collected in the death of a 42-year-old mother who was shot in front of her home. 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. Brian, we got a problem, Thompson said. When Quinton studied the gunshot residue report, he concluded that the trace amounts of residue on Lord did not necessarily indicate handling or firing the weapon. But he couldnt say for sure that she didnt fire the Beretta. 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. She wanted to not only vindicate herself but also make sure the public knew just what Thompson had done to her. Im just as baffled as you are, she said. His voice got even softer. He told Lundberg that he wasnt sure this was a suicide. Something is definitely not adding up, Thompson thought, as he walked into one of the interview rooms where Brian Jaffe was waiting. No, Lord said. (The autopsy report revealed that he had at least a .17 blood alcohol level when he diedtwice the legal limit to drive a vehicle.) He is a Democrat representing District 96 in the Tennessee House of Representatives . Of Representatives he comes across as a bully strike again life., he was not depressed! He loved life., he could be a little scary and that was... Detective, said the evidence simply did not point to that conclusion inches and 230 pounds in! 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