If you have or may be questioned by the police, know your rights. For the rest of the month, Burnsides father regularly called Thompson to get updates on the investigation. She appeared to be so despondent that a jailer thought she needed to be put on suicide watch. Mikey said, Im not going to cheat on you in Vegas. Shearin questioned Lord about the drops of blood around the house. 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. But she maintained her innocence, claiming that he committed suicide. It was a very overwhelming issue., Thompson leaned back in his chair and stared at Lord. Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. People drink all the time who own guns, Thompson said. Personal details. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. I had the impression that she told me that [Burnside] had nothing to do with it and she did it. But he refused to say, like he had said on his porch, that he had definitely heard Lord confess to the shooting. The detective told him that he was doing what he could. 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. He knew it. 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.). Or maybe the two had struggled for the gun before it went off, leaving residue on both of them. But she maintained her innocence and claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. 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. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Det. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. I want him held accountable. If I was guilty, would I really have gone out and filed a lawsuit, knowing everything would be brought up again, giving Thompson and all the other naysayers one more chance to come after me?, A few weeks later, I called Lord and asked her again about Burnsides death. Compared with Thompson, Lundberg was a quiet man who wore glasses and spoke slowly. Was it possible that he thought he was about to lose the woman he loved?. Or he mistakenly pulled the trigger thinking the Beretta was unloaded., Jaffe shook his head. Thompson stared at a copy of Burnsides drivers license. 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. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. There was no sign that he had struggled with an assailantno bruises or scratches on his skin, no scuffed knuckles. He had on a dark fedora, a dark suit, a white shirt with a tie, and dress shoes. The First 48 (2004- ) Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson hunts for a band of carjacking killers that are terrorizing a neighborhood. Jaffe told him that Mikey was a good ol boy who liked hunting and fishing. Im innocent, Lord kept saying. 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. I cant say any more, but its insane.. I wasnt in the room when that young man got shot, she would later say in an interview. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. Olivia kept saying, I wasnt going to leave him. Its difficult to go out in public without thinking someone is saying, Theres the girl who killed her boyfriend., Right at that moment, a waiter walked up, clearly taken with her, and asked if she was ready to order. She was so hysterical he could not understand what she was saying. On May 14, five days after the shooting, Lord finally left her mothers house to attend Burnsides funeral with her family and friends. A lab technician had been unable to find any fingerprints on the Beretta because the gun had been covered in blood. Lord was charged with murder a month after Burnsides death, based on Thompsons affidavit, and spent nine days in jail. He called Jaffe, who had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him locate her. A uniformed officer walked over and told Thompson that the house belonged to a man named Michael Burnside, age thirty. 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. Nevertheless, as far as Thompson was concerned, that did not eliminate her as a suspect. In early May, word spread that the departments Public Integrity Unit had launched an investigation of Thompsons work on the Lord case. You said he was upset and he hollers and starts getting destructive, and the thing is, you said he gets scary. Jaffe said that he and Burnside had been drinking earlier that evening. DallasJustice.com, Law offices of Michael Lowe, 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, Kim Sanders explained that the Lord interrogation was intimidation, Sanders also pointed out Thompsons failure to read Ms. Lord her Miranda rights, Michael Lowes Things to Know if You are Being Investigated for a Crime in Texas, Salinas 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. I know verbally from him that he owes the government a lot of taxes, Lord replied. 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. Which brings us to the story this week here in Dallas of Hephzibah Olivia Lord, who sued and won a civil lawsuit against a Dallas police detective for false arrest, reportedly in large part because the jury found that the detective had acted with malice (a legal term here) during his interrogation of Lord after she was arrested on a charge of murdering her boyfriend. Thompson and Lundberg drove to Rastegars house. She helped him with his finances, reminding him to pay his bills and to keep his spending in line. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? texasmonthly.com Prior to her arrest, Lord had been known for her good-natured personality. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. I wasnt going to leave him. 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. In his lectures, he often told other officers that to find out why a killing had taken place, it was as important to study the life of the victimvictimology, he called itas it was to study the behavior of the criminal. Summary: 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. 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 said he had heard that Burnside was making money. 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. 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. Between sobs, Lord begged to be taken to Parkland to be with her boyfriend. On the floor was a pool of blood along with bloody towels. As the interview continued, however, Rastegar said that he wasnt certain what he had heard. Lord continued to deny involvement in the death during questioning, saying she was in the bathroom when she heard the shot and called 911. Your email address will not be published. Rastegar again tried to explain what he had heard Lord say that night. 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. 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. After the service, she told Burnsides friends that she hadnt returned any of their calls because she had been overwhelmed with grief. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Lord glanced at Thompson and he glanced back. 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 jury watched it. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Do I want to know an answer? She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. 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. 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. Tittle then had the jurors watch Thompsons interview with Lord and Lundbergs interview with Rastegar. This has been kind of a sexy case here: an attractive female shoots the boyfriend, you solve the crime. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. I did not kill my boyfriend. Was there a chance he was involved in the shooting? Then U.S. district judge Barbara Lynn gaveled the court to order. "You look at that. Lord explained again and again that while she was in the bathroom, her boyfriend shot himself (they had been fighting, he was drunk). Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. Did she, in fact, tell him that she was leaving him? I had to cover my mouth I was so appalled, Judy Durbin, an accountant who was the foreman of the jury, would later recall. And on this morning, Thompson was especially interested in the victimology of Burnside. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. 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. Thompson returned to headquarters and took the elevator to the homicide offices on the fifth floor. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. Instead, he gave Brandi Mitchell everything he had.. "It was a good experience," Thompson says, "It kind of launched me into police work." 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. 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. A couple of clerks grinned at him. There was no way a person with an IQ above 65 could have concluded that Olivia had shot Michael.. When the lab report on the gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either. Thirty seconds passed as she wept before she added, There are still nights when I drive by our home just to look at it. 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.. Yes. 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. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. She had told Jaffe she had driven past Burnsides house before leaving and had seen crime scene investigation vehicles parked outside. But Sunday night, the deadly virus claimed his life. Every day, dozens of times a day, I think about that talk and how I wish I could take it all back, she told me. A&E | Air Date: unknown. The detectives in charge of the investigation had concluded that there was no evidence to substantiate that Det. Rastegar ran outside and asked her what had happened. A police officer receives a high degree of protection when he conducts a criminal investigation. "The goal is to arrive at the truth." Olivia, youre not telling me the truth, Thompson told her. But after her arrest, Lord read The Count of Monte Cristo, the Alexandre Dumas novel about a wrongfully imprisoned man who seeks revenge against those responsible for his imprisonment, and she memorized one of the books famous lines: May the god of vengeance now permit me to punish the wicked! That was her goal, she said. 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. He can go so far as to lie to a suspect to try to obtain a confession. 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. . Lord was released. . During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. She works at a clothing shop, making $14 an hour, far less than what she was earning when she was in the mortgage business. 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. Nearly a year after the shooting, a grand jury met and heard the evidence. He told the jurors that he didnt believe that Lord had shot Burnside. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? 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. 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. Thompson started his career in law enforcement as a corrections officer in a maximum-security prison in South Carolina. As he nodded sympathetically, she again talked about how hurt she had been on her birthday. If the review determines that he did nothing wrong, he could be reinstated as a detective. I cant undo what hes done.. (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. Then his own cellphone rang. Police questioned Lord at the police station and then released her. 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 s 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. What he needed was irrefutable evidence pointing to Lords involvement in the shooting. Lord hired Don Tittle, a high-profile Dallas lawyer who specializes in civil rights litigation, to file a lawsuit against Thompson, which he did in late 2011. The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. It was Burnsides father. Cameras followed him as he solved a murder case in which the body was never found. He wasnt stressed-out, Thompson said. Basically she said, I know the kind of stuff that goes on in Vegas, Jaffe told Thompson. Every time she tried to answer a question, she said, he cut her off and called her a liar. (Jaffe had been drinking Shiner Bock, and Burnside had been having Red Bull mixed with vodka.) Then Tittle fired back. Tittle then asked about Rastegar. They make honest, reasonable mistakes. After she graduates, she hopes to go to law school and perhaps someday work for the Innocence Project. When she flew back to Dallas, she went straight to Shearins office. Nor did Burnsides parents invite her to the reception. She told her parents that Thompson had brutalized her. Testimony continues Friday, during which Lord may take the witness stand. John said that was impossibleJaffe would have never betrayed Michael. But, Jaffe added, Burnside didnt wave the gun around. Thompson misrepresented any facts or falsified any government documents. They also declared that there was no evidence that Det. 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! Why wasnt that enough? 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. At Christmas, you thought you were going to get a ring. She said Burnside had been drinking heavily, and at some point, in the midst of the fight, he had walked into the kitchen and shot himself. Wearing a black dress and black heels, Lord came into the courtroom, followed by her friends and family. I do believe you killed him. But Detective Dwayne Thompson. The trial finally began in a federal courtroom in downtown Dallas this past Januarynearly four years after the shooting. You [expletive] shot him! 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