In truth, she had called 911 seconds after she had tried to reach Jaffe. The officer looked at the notes he had jotted down. The officer flipped another page. If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. A Shooting on Spring Grove Ave: When Michael Burnside was found dead in his Dallas home in 2010, detective Dwayne Thompson decided that the victim's girlfriend had pulled the trigger. Thats what you did! he told a stunned and confused Lord, who protested her innocence. Still, Thompson had only a theory. | Sign In, Verdict Corrections Description: Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. The way Lord had described it, she and Burnside were deeply in love, and they had been talking about marriage. 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. But we at least have the right to know that. texasmonthly.com Thompson thanked John and told him he would be back in touch. 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. You [expletive] shot him! When she flew back to Dallas, she went straight to Shearins office. Do I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I may have provoked something? Something is definitely not adding up, Thompson thought, as he walked into one of the interview rooms where Brian Jaffe was waiting. Im a person who just lost her boyfriend, Lord wailed. 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. Lundberg conducted the interview because Thompson had a prior commitment to teach a class at the police academy. Then, on June 5, his phone rang. 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. A bullet hole was in a wall near the ceiling. Brian, we got a problem, Thompson said. And in Cleveland, an argument among friends spins out of control when one of them makes a deadly decision. He saw no high-velocity blood spatter. When the paramedics arrived, Burnside had faint vital signs, but he died shortly after reaching the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital. A&E | Air Date: unknown. 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. IMDbPro. Thompson formed his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed at his jawline, aiming upward at a 70-degree angle, which infuriated Shearin, who accused Thompson of wildly exaggerating the location and angle of the shot. 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. Thats what you did! According to Jaffe, Lord overheard the conversation and started to get upset. She told Burnside she was hurt that he would go to the trouble of organizing a friends birthday party when he had done next to nothing for her own birthday a few months earlier. A few days after the funeral, Lord called Burnsides brother to ask if she could retrieve some of her belongings from the house. Lord could hardly look at him. By the end of the interview, Thompson had returned from his lecture and walked into the room. Between sobs, Lord begged to be taken to Parkland to be with her boyfriend. What other results could you have with the police policing themselves? she said. . Why are you doing this to me right now? Lord asked Thompson at one stage during the questioning. I loved my boyfriend.. Then Tittle fired back. Police questioned Lord at the police station and then released her. According to Lord, he became obnoxious and sarcastic, which often happened when he drank. And on this morning, Thompson was especially interested in the victimology of Burnside. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? 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. I was leaning over my future husbands body, Lord said. She had started dating Burnside, the co-owner of a company that retrofitted homes to make them energy-efficient, about a year earlier. 3. And who knows? The jury determined Friday that Dallas homicide Detective Dwayne Thompson showed a reckless disregard for the civil rights of 36-year-old Hephzibah Olivia Lord. Lord explained that Burnside had taken them out from underneath the sink when he was trying to install the dishwasher. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. I went into the kitchen and he was on the floor and there was blood. See rank. And now hes dead, he said. She was arrested in 2010 for the . 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. He had on a dark fedora, a dark suit, a white shirt with a tie, and dress shoes. 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. Olivia, everyone we talked to said one consistent thing about Michael: that he loved life., He did love life. In his free time, he read Civil War history and played Internet chess. You were very disappointed. The Dallas Police Department is featured in a national reality TV show on the A&E network called The First 48, (maybe youve seen it if not, watch episodes here) and the detective who interrogated Hephzibah Olivia Lord in a manner that justified Lords civil suit for damages was Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson, who has been seen frequently on this A&E show. I want him brought down.. Thompson asked why there was so little blood on her hands and arms. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. Something did not add up. In the video, Rastegar initially seemed to confirm what he had supposedly told Thompson and Lundberg on the porch. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. 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. I work cases because thats what I get paid to do., Tittle asked Thompson why he didnt seem particularly disturbed that Burnside was drunk and had showed off his Beretta on the night of the shooting. 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. When Thompson took the stand, he seemed utterly likable as he described his history as a detective. 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. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Jurors in a civil trial on Thursday got to watch a dramatic video of that tense and aggressive interrogation of Lord, who is now suing Thompson for false arrest in a federal civil trial. And, Thompson guessed, she had wiped down her hands and arms with the towels he had seen on the kitchen floor. Thompson and Lundberg drove to Rastegars house. And, yes, she said, she had grown irritated when she heard Burnside and Jaffe talking about the birthday party. But a Dallas County grand jury later declined to indict her. John, who had already been informed by Jaffe about the incident, could barely maintain his composure. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. The officer flipped a page in his notebook. Thompson returned to headquarters and took the elevator to the homicide offices on the fifth floor. But when she realized how serious his injury wasI think I saw a spot on his head, she saidshe called 911 several times. Lord told her friends and family that Burnside definitely liked to have a good time. An officer came over to Thompsons cubicle and handed him Lords and Jaffes cellphones. See production, box office & company info. Although she had her own apartment, she was planning to move in with him as soon as he finished remodeling the house. They had not laid eyes on each other since he had interrogated her. Thompson and Lundberg started talking. And if the young man had shot himself, wouldnt the gun have landed closer to his body? Lord explained again and again that while she was in the bathroom, her boyfriend shot himself (they had been fighting, he was drunk). She called Thompsons interrogation of her a mental rape and characterized her days in jail as torture. Even now, she said, she felt like an outcast, afraid to go out in public. She identified herself as Olivia Lord, Burnsides girlfriend, and said she had just found Burnside lying on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to his head. Anonymous He told the jurors that he didnt believe that Lord had shot Burnside. During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. (Jaffe had been drinking Shiner Bock, and Burnside had been having Red Bull mixed with vodka.) 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. He insisted that what Rastegar told him in the homicide office was the same and consistent with what he said out on the porch. That was one of the most-watched episodes in The First 48s run, drawing 2.3 million viewers, and the producers told Thompson that they wanted to do more shows with him. Mitchell realized that the evidence against Lord was weak, but she wasnt prepared to say that Lord was innocent. As he nodded sympathetically, she again talked about how hurt she had been on her birthday. Olivia kept saying, I wasnt going to leave him. Lord glanced at Thompson and he glanced back. I asked Lord if she had said anything to Burnside that night that would have led him to believe that the relationship was over. Thompson also had not told the Burnsides that he had misread a crucial piece of evidence. He is a Democrat representing District 96 in the Tennessee House of Representatives . 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? S8, Ep2 8 Jan. 2009 There was something else that didnt seem right: drops of blood leading into another room. Don't be scared to look at. Trailer 0:21. I wasnt going to leave him. 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. 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. Basically she said, I know the kind of stuff that goes on in Vegas, Jaffe told Thompson. Home Prior to her arrest, Lord had been known for her good-natured personality. I dont want to answer that, she said. I cant undo what hes done.. 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. Lets make a bad thing right. His fellow detectives nicknamed him D-Train. 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. That wont be possible, said Thompson. 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. You realize, dont you, that if I didnt have money from my family to fight back, I could have been wrongfully convicted, fighting this from prison. Im innocent.. Lundberg walked into the interview room, pulled his chair close to Lord, and played the role of the good cop. The day after the verdict, Thompson was placed on desk duty. Dwayne Thompson and Kim Sanders are both grizzled veterans of the Dallas police homicide unit. Bring on the Shiplap? Was there a chance he was involved in the shooting? Then Shearin got his big break. Lord was released. After arriving at his house, which was a ten-minute drive away, he had received a call from Lord. But, Jaffe added, Burnside didnt wave the gun around. She fell to her knees and said it was an accident and that she didnt mean to shoot him. She was so hysterical he could not understand what she was saying. She was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants, her knees stained with blood. 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! A retired Dallas police officer acting as an expert witness for Lord told the jury there was no evidence that Lord shot Burnside. 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. The case was then sent to the Internal Affairs division for an administrative review. If the review, which is ongoing as of press time, finds that Thompson violated departmental policies, he could be fired, suspended, or demoted. . Schuette and Tatia R. Wilson. 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. (Thompson still hadnt told anyone outside his office about the discrepancy.) Lord, who is now 37 years old, still lives in the same apartment, and she has barely spent any of the money she won in her lawsuit. At around twelve-thirty, the officer continued, a woman had called 911 from the house. According to Thompson, Rastegar said he had been in bed during the early morning hours of May 9 when he heard screaming in Burnsides front yard. Why did you wait seven minutes before calling 911? he yelled. She was Miss Right as far as he was concerned, Jaffe replied. Who cares? He noticed that there was a chemical odorit smelled like bleach, he would later sayon her clothes. Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. 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. Michael Lowe is Celebrating Over 20 YEARS of Service. 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. He walked into the kitchen and nodded at Dale Lundberg, a detective who was on call that night to work as Thompsons backup. Lundberg then brought up the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides brain. Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. Whos that? Thompson asked, pointing to a man kneeling beside Lord in the front yard. All we want is for Olivia to go through a criminal trial, said John Burnside, sitting with Cindi in their East Dallas home. Your email address will not be published. Who do you fing think you are?. His voice got even softer. He wasnt stressed-out, Thompson said. This has been kind of a sexy case here: an attractive female shoots the boyfriend, you solve the crime. Witnesses can shift their statements from one day to the next. 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. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? 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. And youd say, you know, Thats not a toy., Jaffe said that Burnside had pulled out a gun that night. City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. When the lab report on the gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either. Thats the exact type of case that might have been portrayed on The First 48, right? Tittle asked. 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. | Editor The jurors, however, werent buying any of it. As the interview continued, however, Rastegar said that he wasnt certain what he had heard. She said that he was a big drinker and that he could sometimes be reckless. Im just as baffled as you are, she said. After going through perfunctory questions about what happened that night, Thompsons voice boomed without warning. 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