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. Play Trailer 0:21. The officer flipped another page. Lord is a striking green-eyed woman, with wavy auburn hair that sweeps down past her shoulders. 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. 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. When he wasnt solving murders, Thompson restored sports cars and tooled around in a black Corvette convertible. For her part, Lord said that she would gladly give up any money in return for Thompsons being sent to prison. I think Michael might have gotten the impression that I was going to leave him, she said. Join Facebook to connect with Dwayne Thompson and others you may know. He then asked them to ride down to Dallas police headquarters in separate squad cars to give their statements. I did start dating a guy not long ago, she said after the waiter left. 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. Description: Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. As the interview continued, however, Rastegar said that he wasnt certain what he had heard. She was Miss Right as far as he was concerned, Jaffe replied. Did she, in fact, tell him that she was leaving him? I know that he could get dramatic and a little crazy when he drank. 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. Prosecutors are also aware that detectives can develop a kind of tunnel vision about a case. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. When he finished, he left a packet of evidence that hed compiled for the grand jurors to peruse, including the results of two polygraphs that concluded that Lord had not shown deception when she said she had not shot Burnside. She said that he was a big drinker and that he could sometimes be reckless. They couldnt get the dishwasher installed because of a broken valve, which sent water all over the floor, so they took a break. There was something else that didnt seem right: drops of blood leading into another room. See production, box office & company info. Shearin ordered Lords cellphone records and received more good news: there was no seven-minute gap in her calls. But she was pointedly not invited to a get-together that Burnsides friends were throwing after the service at one of his favorite bars. They liked to say that when he pursued a suspect, he was as unstoppable as a locomotive. Tired of fighting, she stopped talking to Burnside and went into the bathroom to take off her makeup. You said he was upset and he hollers and starts getting destructive, and the thing is, you said he gets scary. Dwayne Thompson (I) IMDbPro Starmeter. Thompson left the room, walked down the hall, and opened the door to another interview room. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. And Im a person who thinks your behavior tonight doesnt add up. He pointed his finger at her. Strapped around his shoulders was a thick brown leather holster that held his department-issued pistol, a 9mm Sig Sauer. Had she washed up with towels before the paramedics and police arrived? Every time she tried to answer a question, she said, he cut her off and called her a liar. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. He insisted that what Rastegar told him in the homicide office was the same and consistent with what he said out on the porch. Lundberg then brought up the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides brain. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Something is not right.. I dont want to answer that, she said. Dwayne Thompson (born October 6, 1950) is an American politician. Merritt had an uncanny knack for catching killers. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Something is definitely not adding up, Thompson thought, as he walked into one of the interview rooms where Brian Jaffe was waiting. In fact, when Tittle asked Thompson, Is it still your belief that Olivia Lord murdered Michael Burnside? the detective didnt hesitate. I believe that with all my heart.. At Christmas, you thought you were going to get a ring. Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $800,000.00. Her parents hired an attorney named Joe Shearin, a former guard for the University of Texas Longhorns who had played in the NFL before becoming one of Dallass most prominent criminal defense lawyers. Anonymous But, said Lundberg, there was no sign of blood spatter on Burnsides right hand or arm. The officer pointed to a woman sitting on a chair in the front yard, her face in her hands. In this interrogation method, its deemed acceptable to manipulate through accusations of guilt through an aggressive protocol of nine steps. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. No, she said again. 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. 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. Tittle then asked about Rastegar. Why are you doing this to me right now? Lord asked Thompson at one stage during the questioning. 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. No, Lord said. Were missing something, he said to her. 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. It was a very overwhelming issue., Thompson leaned back in his chair and stared at Lord. He was the life of the party.. 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 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. 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. He was not a depressed type of person at all. 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. 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. After arriving at his house, which was a ten-minute drive away, he had received a call from Lord. Shearin called a friend in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had never met. That wont be possible, said Thompson. A citizen filing a lawsuit for false arrest must prove that the officer acted with malice, which is difficult to do. See rank. After The First 48. The First 48 (2004- ) Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson hunts for a band of carjacking killers that are terrorizing a neighborhood. After being honorably discharged, in 1991, while stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he joined the Dallas police. If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. Nearly a year after the shooting, a grand jury met and heard the evidence. Lord was accused of murder countless times, and she always denied it. 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.. Jaffe told him that Mikey was a good ol boy who liked hunting and fishing. On August 6 Brown signed the report, and Thompson was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. Dallas Homicide Detective Dwayne Thompson revisits an empty plot of land where a grizzly double homicide had occurred years prior.Subscribe for more The Firs. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. Im devastated., Thompson bore down. Lets make a bad thing right. His fellow detectives nicknamed him D-Train. 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. The officer looked at the notes he had jotted down. 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. 4. In a typical suicide, he said, when someone shoots himself in the temple, he points the gun straight at his head and the bullet travels through the brain and exits in a line roughly parallel to the floor. . Thats Olivia Lord, he told Thompson. It was now 5:44 a.m. And on this morning, Thompson was especially interested in the victimology of Burnside. And thats hurtful. Lord claimed that Burnside, who was intoxicated, shot himself.Thompson rejected the theory that Burnside committed suicide and investigated the death as murder. Lundberg conducted the interview because Thompson had a prior commitment to teach a class at the police academy. But when she realized how serious his injury wasI think I saw a spot on his head, she saidshe called 911 several times. The towels had been on the floor to soak up the water that had spilled when the dishwasher valve broke. If I had killed Michael, then doesnt it make sense that I would have walked away after I had gotten no-billed by the grand jury? There was another, longer silence. He saw no high-velocity blood spatter. Thompson, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department, has been a homicide detective since 2006. No, said Quinton, Thompson hadnt mentioned either of those things. In this trial, Lord was definitely the underdog. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? A few days after the funeral, Lord called Burnsides brother to ask if she could retrieve some of her belongings from the house. For the rest of the month, Burnsides father regularly called Thompson to get updates on the investigation. Lord explained that Burnside had taken them out from underneath the sink when he was trying to install the dishwasher. After the service, she told Burnsides friends that she hadnt returned any of their calls because she had been overwhelmed with grief. 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. On the floor was a pool of blood along with bloody towels. 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. It was a stupid fight., Jaffe paused. A team of U.S. marshals found her at her fathers home in Palmdale, about an hour north of Los Angeles, and Lord was held in custody for nine days. Thompson acknowledged that without the statement regarding Lords confession, I wouldnt have filed a case. Tittle asked Thompson a series of questions about when he had actually written his arrest affidavit, which described Rastegar as making a recorded interview to the police about Lords excited utterance. Thompson was eventually forced to admit that he had typed up the affidavit before Rastegar had come down to the homicide offices to make his statement. For Thompson, there was no question about it: Lord was on the run. But Love also acknowledges that he is bewildered at the idea of Burnside shooting himself. Dwayne Thompson has spent over 18 years with the Dallas Police Department. Physical evidence can be more baffling than conclusive. 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. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide Read allWhen 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. Lord shook her head. But what did you actually tell Michael during the argument? Of course not, she said. Raised in Ohio, Thompson spent five years in the Army, earning the rank of captain and commanding a military police unit in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. HEPHZIBAH OLIVIA LORD I dont work cases for the sexiness of them, Thompson snapped. I want him held accountable. Rastegar again tried to explain what he had heard Lord say that night. 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. If the review determines that he did nothing wrong, he could be reinstated as a detective. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. Thompson also had not told the Burnsides that he had misread a crucial piece of evidence. She cooked, she cleaned, he was happy.. Who do you think you are? Only Burnside and Lord were in the apartment where they lived at the time. Edit. 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. Then Shearin got his big break. They make honest, reasonable mistakes. But, Jaffe added, Burnside didnt wave the gun around. Or maybe Mikey did it, Jaffe said. Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. . 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. By the first of June, hed put aside Lords file to work on his other cases. Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. I mean, she got no-billed. I dont remember the exact words that were used, he told Lundberg. Yes you did! What he needed was irrefutable evidence pointing to Lords involvement in the shooting. (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. He can go so far as to lie to a suspect to try to obtain a confession. 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. Shearin made his own presentation, about 25 minutes in length, laying out the case for his clients innocence. You did! (For a more complete description of the interrogation, check out Dallas Morning News coverage from the day that the jury was shown the interrogation videotape.). Shearin paid a visit to Reade Quinton, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Burnside, to ask him why, just prior to Lords arrest, he had changed his ruling about the cause of death from pending to homicide. Quinton replied that Thompson had informed him about the statement made by Rastegar. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. 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. We were joking around about somethingI dont remember whatand I said, Hey, wheres your Beretta? And he opened up [a kitchen drawer] and said, Its right here.. One of the few black detectives in the unit, Thompson quickly made his mark. She added a detail about their relationship that she hadnt told Thompson, saying that she had been disappointed that Burnside hadnt proposed to her the previous Christmas. Then Jaffe added one more detail. Why try to make money off Michaels death?. But I dont know how to do it. Maybe, Jaffe speculated, when Burnside and Lord had started arguing, he had declared that he was never going to marry her, which sent Lord into a tailspin and led her to grab the gun. 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