what happened to detective dwayne thompson

He thought he had a mild case of COVID-19. I had to cover my mouth I was so appalled, Judy Durbin, an accountant who was the foreman of the jury, would later recall. The officer shrugged. I mean, she got no-billed. That she didnt mean to do it.. Something is definitely not adding up, Thompson thought, as he walked into one of the interview rooms where Brian Jaffe was waiting. However, Lord wasnt done with the situation and after she was released, she filed her civil lawsuit for damages. Or maybe Mikey did it, Jaffe said. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Some are arguing that Lord has won this jury verdict because Detective Thompson used a controversial form of interrogation method called the Reid method of questioning. She said that he was a big drinker and that he could sometimes be reckless. These actions are allowed constitutionally under their police powers; however, what can happen during a police interrogation is supposed to follow certain legal requirements and more often than not, they are undertaken while being recorded via video or audio. See rank. Yes. She had always insisted that she had not fled from the police. Thompson, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department, has been a homicide detective since 2006. 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. She fell to her knees and said it was an accident and that she didnt mean to shoot him. Im innocent, Lord kept saying. Thompson stormed out of the room and asked Lundberg to see what he could get out of Lord. The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved a settlement of more than $1 million to a . Basically she said, I know the kind of stuff that goes on in Vegas, Jaffe told Thompson. I grabbed him and held him.. He was confident and charming, she said. I was leaning over my future husbands body, Lord said. A lab technician had been unable to find any fingerprints on the Beretta because the gun had been covered in blood. I know verbally from him that he owes the government a lot of taxes, Lord replied. As the interview continued, however, Rastegar said that he wasnt certain what he had heard. As for Burnsides relationship with Lord, Jaffe said, It was one of those old-school-type things. In 2008, when the producers of The First 48, a reality series on the A&E network about homicide detectives in big-city police departments, came to Dallas to film some episodes, they were riveted by Thompson. 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. Videos 1. Thompson asked why there was so little blood on her hands and arms. She helped him with his finances, reminding him to pay his bills and to keep his spending in line. Jaffe was sitting in a plastic chair next to a small table pushed against a wall. On May 14, five days after the shooting, Lord finally left her mothers house to attend Burnsides funeral with her family and friends. 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. . Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. She needed pills to go to sleep. Dressed in one of his dark suits, Thompson strode toward his seat. After arriving at his house, which was a ten-minute drive away, he had received a call from Lord. The jury watched it. Facebook gives people the power. Shearin called a friend in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had never met. 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. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Toward the end of the year, he finally saw the video recording of Rastegars interview at police headquarters. 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. Leave them blank to get signed up. But I dont know how to do it. But Detective Dwayne Thompson testified Tuesday that nothing he has heard since his civil trial began last week has changed his opinion that Lord intentionally killed Burnside. He allowed a few seconds to pass. 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? Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Tittle then asked about Rastegar. 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. IMDbPro. Lord was accused of murder countless times, and she always denied it. 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. Veteran Dallas police homicide detective Dwayne Thompson is on desk duty pending an internal investigation. Thompson thanked John and told him he would be back in touch. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. If the review determines that he did nothing wrong, he could be reinstated as a detective. Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $800,000.00. 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. 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. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. Mikey said, Im not going to cheat on you in Vegas. 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. He saw no high-velocity blood spatter. There hasnt been one bit of evidence in this case that has caused you to pause in your opinion that she murdered Michael?. Im willing to accept that it might have been an accident. 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. Lord told her friends and family that Burnside definitely liked to have a good time. You did! West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. I do believe you killed him. Thompson left the room, walked down the hall, and opened the door to another interview room. On May 9, 2010, plaintiff Hephzibah Olivia Lord, 36, who works in mortgaging, was alone with her boyfriend at his home, in Dallas. Lundberg also took the stand, testifying that he too remained convinced that Lord was guilty of murder. Another particle had been discovered on the front of Lords shirt. Shearin got Lord out of jail on bail. Shearin asked if Thompson had mentioned that an inebriated Burnside had shown the Beretta to his friend that night. A bullet hole was in a wall near the ceiling. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. 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. Lundberg paused again. 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. I cant say any more, but its insane.. 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. The arrest was based upon Thompsons affidavit. You shot him!, Olivia, youre not telling me the truth., Youre arguing about a goddamn birthday party, and he says, Im so upset about the goddamn birthday party that Im going to kill myself? Thompson said, his voice growing louder. Description: Hephzibah Olivia Lord, age 36, sued Dallas homicide detective Dwayne Thompson on civil rights violation theories under 42 U.S.C. . 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. 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. Lets make a bad thing right. His fellow detectives nicknamed him D-Train. Shearin questioned Lord about the drops of blood around the house. Its insane, he was overheard saying one afternoon at a restaurant near the police department. Shearin ordered Lords cellphone records and received more good news: there was no seven-minute gap in her calls. But a Dallas County grand jury later declined to indict her. I dont want to answer that, she said. Then she looked at Thompson. Thompson sat in another chair and asked about Burnside. She appeared to be so despondent that a jailer thought she needed to be put on suicide watch. 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. Alternative . On May 11, 2011, in the case of Texas v. Lord, the grand jury returned a no bill. Lord spent 9 days in jail before a Dallas Grand Jury refused to indict her for the crime. He told Lundberg that he wasnt sure this was a suicide. He asked Thompson if he had told one of Burnsides friends that this was the case of a lifetimethe kind of case that could make him famous. Im not even sure the word accident was used. He said he later surmised that Lord had shot Burnside because he had heard a story going around the neighborhood that Burnside had been shot in the back of the head, which would suggest he had been murdered. The arrest affidavit had never mentioned that Rastegar had backed off during his interview. Bring on the Shiplap? Nor did Burnsides parents invite her to the reception. (2014) Tittle then had the jurors watch Thompsons interview with Lord and Lundbergs interview with Rastegar. Burnside told her that he was under financial stress, having to pay both his mortgage and his income taxes. Im willing to accept that Mikey might have totally screwed up. Thompson asked if there was any chance that Jaffe had been carrying on a secret relationship with Lord. Of course not, she said. Do I feel an overwhelming feeling of guilt because I may have provoked something? Or, asked Shearin, did Thompson say that Burnside was stressed about owing money to the IRS? And then theres Jaffe, Burnsides best friend, who says he remains convinced that Lord is hiding something. Still, Thompson had only a theory. She has also enrolled in college for the first time. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? 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. Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. It was Lord. Thats Olivia Lord, he told Thompson. Perhaps sensing that the jury had turned against the detective, Jason Schuette, another attorney for the City of Dallas, resorted to a surprise tactic in his final arguments. The detectives in charge of the investigation had concluded that there was no evidence to substantiate that Det. "The goal is to arrive at the truth." Olivia, youre not telling me the truth, Thompson told her. I went into the kitchen and he was on the floor and there was blood. But Love also acknowledges that he is bewildered at the idea of Burnside shooting himself. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. She was on an airplaneon her way to California. Was she Miss Right or Miss Right Now? Thompson asked. Lundberg then brought up the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides brain. I wasnt going to leave him. Who do you think you are? Yes you did!. What he needed was irrefutable evidence pointing to Lords involvement in the shooting. Reddit - Dive into anything. A uniformed officer walked over and told Thompson that the house belonged to a man named Michael Burnside, age thirty. Most of Thompsons fellow officers assumed it would be only a matter of time before he was firedand perhaps even indicted. He insisted that what Rastegar told him in the homicide office was the same and consistent with what he said out on the porch. Who cares? 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.. Thompson started his career in law enforcement as a corrections officer in a maximum-security prison in South Carolina. Do I want to know an answer? The lawyer was reluctant to open the door. 4. And the bullet had exited toward the top of the left side of Burnsides head. 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. Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com. Thompson returned to headquarters and took the elevator to the homicide offices on the fifth floor. For the rest of the month, Burnsides father regularly called Thompson to get updates on the investigation. 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? In early May, word spread that the departments Public Integrity Unit had launched an investigation of Thompsons work on the Lord case. 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. 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. I heard what I thought was glass shattering really loud, Lord said. The First 48 (2004- ) In Dallas, when a good Samaritan is gunned down trying . They make honest, reasonable mistakes. Lord seemed shocked. And then she burst into tears. He called Jaffe, who had also turned against Lord, to see if he could help him locate her. What he didnt say was that the case was going nowhere. Yes. Nearly a year after the shooting, a grand jury met and heard the evidence. Not only that, Sanders also pointed out Thompsons failure to read Ms. Lord her Miranda rights including specifically her right to remain silent after it was clear that Thompson considered Lord to be a suspect in a crime. An expert witness with expertise as both a retired officer and homicide detective from the same police department, testified on Lords behalf. And then Thompson pounced. She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. 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. But there was no corruption involved. 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. They couldnt get the dishwasher installed because of a broken valve, which sent water all over the floor, so they took a break. S8, Ep2 8 Jan. 2009 Its so ridiculous. Why did you let my son bleed to death on his own kitchen floor? He also had run up some debt: he owed a rental car company money for crashing one of its vehicles, and he had received letters from the IRS demanding that he pay more than $50,000 in back taxes. Why the bottles of cleaning products and the bloody towels? A couple of clerks grinned at him. The day after the shooting, he had checked the records and discovered that there was no seven-minute gap on Lords cellphone between the calls to Jaffe and 911. He told the jurors that he didnt believe that Lord had shot Burnside. One of the few black detectives in the unit, Thompson quickly made his mark. Sometimes I want to walk inside, thinking he will be there. 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. But Sunday night, the deadly virus claimed his life. Theres no way my son shot himself,John said. Its psychological pressure as opposed to physical force, however many believe that the result, coercion, can be the same even though no blows are struck. He walked into the kitchen and nodded at Dale Lundberg, a detective who was on call that night to work as Thompsons backup. Strapped around. In that small house, she mistook the sound of a pistol shot for a glass falling to the floor? He said that he couldnt handle disappointing me on top of all the financial stress and tax problems that he was enduring.. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. After being honorably discharged, in 1991, while stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he joined the Dallas police. Scattered around the floor were a few bottles of household cleaning products. 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.. He wasnt stressed-out, Thompson said. For Thompson, there was no question about it: Lord was on the run. His blood must have dripped off her clothes. He asked her why, after finding Burnside on the floor, she had first called Jaffe but then waited seven minutes before calling 911. There was no way a person with an IQ above 65 could have concluded that Olivia had shot Michael.. There was something else that didnt seem right: drops of blood leading into another room. How are you going to explain that to his family? And, Thompson guessed, she had wiped down her hands and arms with the towels he had seen on the kitchen floor. Then his own cellphone rang. Shed given her telephone to her aunt, who was screening her calls. He had been a good-looking young man, with a magnificent, wide grin. I dont work cases for the sexiness of them, Thompson snapped. I cant say unequivocally whether the young woman did or didnt do the shooting because I wasnt there., At the same time, Mitchell and other prosecutors in the DAs office were not convinced Thompson had committed any serious wrongdoing. The only thing I can tell you that might make any sense to anybody is that when hes drunk, hes very irrational, she said. 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. Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson hunts for a band of carjacking killers that are terrorizing a neighborhood. 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. By the first of June, hed put aside Lords file to work on his other cases. She liked pampering him, waiting on him hand and foot so that he could focus on building his company. Lord spent the next four days at her mothers home in the Dallas suburbs, lying in bed, taking sleeping pills. No, she said again. 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. Lord explained that Burnside had taken them out from underneath the sink when he was trying to install the dishwasher. Its terrifying., Lords claim of innocence has been bolstered by Rastegar, who told me that he never said to Thompson or Lundberg, not even on his front porch, that he had heard her confess to shooting Burnside. Anonymous When Shearin asked if he had told anyone that there was blood spatter on Lords clothing, he replied, I may have said it, but I dont know whether I said it or not. Shearin then asked about the trajectory of the bullet through Burnsides skull. Why, he wanted to know, would a man suddenly shoot himself after what seemed to be a routine argument with his girlfriend? Shearin was outraged. Lord glanced at Thompson and he glanced back. He then worked for a not for profit organization called "One Community" that's premise is to be a middle man between law enforcement and civilians. 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. Lord was released. Sometimes he would think [a gun] was unloaded and he would swing it around, you know, not trying to hurt anybody, just being stupid. Another detective, Dwayne Thompson, charged into the interrogation room. Edit. Finally, after Thompson barked at him, he stepped onto the front porch and told a flabbergasting story. After Jaffe went home, the argument escalated. 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. 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. In fact, when Tittle asked Thompson, Is it still your belief that Olivia Lord murdered Michael Burnside? the detective didnt hesitate. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Trailer 0:21. After the service, she told Burnsides friends that she hadnt returned any of their calls because she had been overwhelmed with grief. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. His voice got even softer. 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. Nevertheless, as far as Thompson was concerned, that did not eliminate her as a suspect. 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. She was so hysterical he could not understand what she was saying. Compared with Thompson, Lundberg was a quiet man who wore glasses and spoke slowly. Lundberg said that there was a gunshot wound to his right temple, a contact wound where the muzzle had been pressed directly against his head, which is common in suicides involving a handgun. She had told Jaffe she had driven past Burnsides house before leaving and had seen crime scene investigation vehicles parked outside. She cooked, she cleaned, he was happy.. 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. Thompson just happened to be standing at the detectives desk, and he was more than happy to talk to Shearin. I know that he could get dramatic and a little crazy when he drank. 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. She had loved dogs and painting. 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. 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. When Shearin called Lord with the news, she thanked him for all he had done for her, but then she said something else. They returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Lord, and ultimately the city had to pay her $1.2 million, which reportedly was the largest judgement of its kind in Dallas. He was the life of the party.. Thirty seconds passed as she wept before she added, There are still nights when I drive by our home just to look at it. "It was a good experience," Thompson says, "It kind of launched me into police work." Prior to her arrest, Lord had been known for her good-natured personality. 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. January 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. Thats what you did! he told a stunned and confused Lord, who protested her innocence. No, said Quinton, Thompson hadnt mentioned either of those things.

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