DENVER -- Two current judges who were prosecutors during the murder trial of Timothy Masters should be publicly censured for misconduct, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The presiding disciplinary judge of the Colorado Supreme Court censured Terrance A. Gilmore and Jolene C. Blair, who agreed to the censure after admitting to violating the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct.

Gilmore and Blair agreed that they failed as prosecutors to ensure that several pieces of information obtained and developed by Fort Collins police during its 12-year investigation of Masters were provided to the defense.

The Larimer County judges also admitted that they did not seek information from police that could have undermined the theory that Masters was guilty. Some of that information included opinions of experts who had examined the crime scene evidence and police reports concerning a 1988 "enhanced surveillance" of Masters.

Masters, who is currently living in Arizona, told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that the censure was nothing more than a slap on the wrist, "But I didn't expect anything to happen, so this is something."

John Gleason, who heads Colorado's Office of Attorney Regulation, said he is "confident that the public censure of the two former prosecutors will underscore the important message to all prosecutors that it is the obligation of the prosecutors, not the police, to ensure that all material obtained by the police in the course of an investigation is provided to the defense as required by the criminal rules."

"Although I disagree with the notion in the stipulation that the wholesale withholding of evidence of innocence by these individuals was merely 'negligent,' I appreciate the efforts of the Office of Attorney Regulation," said Masters' attorney David Wymore. "The punishment of public censure certainly pales in comparison to the harm done to Timothy Masters by these prosecutors. They are required to do nothing. They are not even required to apologize to Tim, to attend ethics classes, to read the rules of evidence, criminal procedure or constitutional law. I find that disappointing."

The censure ends an eight month investigation by the Supreme Court. A public censure of a sitting Colorado judge is unusual. A judge hasn't been reprimanded for his or her conduct as a lawyer in at least 30 years, according to the Coloradoan.

The Weld County district attorney had previously cleared prosecutors and a Fort Collins detective of wrongdoing in putting together the murder case against Masters.

Masters was released from prison in January after his conviction and life sentence were thrown out after sophisticated DNA tests pointed to another suspect. Masters' was the first person in Colorado released from prison because of DNA evidence.

Masters had been convicted in 1999 in the death of Peggy Hettrick, who was slain in 1987 when he was 15.

An advanced skin-cell analysis on Hettrick's garments found none of Masters' genetic material but identified the DNA of another suspect, a former boyfriend of hers.

Related Info:

Jolene Blair Bio
Terry Gilmore Bio