Political career [ edit] In 2014, Thompson ran for election to represent District 10 in the Tennessee House of Representatives, but lost to Republican incumbent Steve McManus. She had volunteered at an AIDS hospice. A lab technician had been unable to find any fingerprints on the Beretta because the gun had been covered in blood. 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. Nearly a year after the shooting, a grand jury met and heard the evidence. I wondered about the story Jaffe had told Thompson about finding her in the front yard, desperately saying, I wasnt going to leave him. Merritt had an uncanny knack for catching killers. 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. | Editor Stars Heaven Bellinger Linda Carden Sheila Cooks See production, box office & company info Watch on A&E I went into the kitchen and he was on the floor and there was blood. 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. Personal details. 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. Strapped around his shoulders was a thick brown leather holster that held his department-issued pistol, a 9mm Sig Sauer. Then U.S. district judge Barbara Lynn gaveled the court to order. Thompson picked up his cellphone and called Burnsides father, John, a successful Dallas business analyst. February 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Why did you let my son bleed to death on his own kitchen floor? Im willing to accept that it might have been an accident. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. The officer flipped another page. 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. (The autopsy report revealed that he had at least a .17 blood alcohol level when he diedtwice the legal limit to drive a vehicle.) In his opinion, it was perfectly plausible that in the heat of the argument with Burnside, she had taken his pistol, slipped up behind him, and pulled the trigger. 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. 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. Lord shook her head. (Jaffe had been drinking Shiner Bock, and Burnside had been having Red Bull mixed with vodka.) 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. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. And now you have this thing where he was spending a lot of money on his friend, but he didnt spend near as much money on your birthday. Trailer 0:21. But, said Lundberg, there was no sign of blood spatter on Burnsides right hand or arm. 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. Im innocent.. Her fight for justice here began around 3 years ago and ended with last weeks jury verdict. Lord continued to deny involvement in the death during questioning, saying she was in the bathroom when she heard the shot and called 911. 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. One of the few black detectives in the unit, Thompson quickly made his mark. Her father, who lived in Californiahe and Lords mother had divorced when she was a childflew in to be with her. 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. Prosecutors are also aware that detectives can develop a kind of tunnel vision about a case. In his free time, he read Civil War history and played Internet chess. Don't be scared to look at. View the profiles of people named Dwayne Thompson. Rastegar ran outside and asked her what had happened. But a Dallas County grand jury later declined to indict her. 4. What he needed was irrefutable evidence pointing to Lords involvement in the shooting. No, said Quinton, Thompson hadnt mentioned either of those things. Witnesses can shift their statements from one day to the next. I cant say any more, but its insane.. 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. That doesnt mean they kill themselves.. If I discover anything that substantiates what I believe, Im going to charge you with murder., He glared at her for a moment. Then Jaffe added one more detail. Thompson sat in another chair and asked about Burnside. But Tittle said the evidence simply did not point to that conclusion. 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. 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. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. Lets make a bad thing right. His fellow detectives nicknamed him D-Train. The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. A jury in federal civil court ruled Friday that a Dallas homicide detective, Dwayne Thompson, violated Lord's civil rights by maliciously having her arrested for a killing she didn't commit,. 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? Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Shearin called a friend in the homicide unit to ask about Thompson, whom he had never met. 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. And now hes dead, he said. Was she Miss Right or Miss Right Now? Thompson asked. But, he added, his friend wasnt the type to get married at any point.. It was Lundberg, who had gone to Parkland to examine Burnsides body. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Det. At around twelve-thirty, the officer continued, a woman had called 911 from the house. 3. Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards. "When I work my cases, I don't have a dog in the fight," said Thompson, a homicide detective since 2006. 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. The officer shrugged. Thats Olivia Lord, he told Thompson. "You look at that. Nevertheless, as far as Thompson was concerned, that did not eliminate her as a suspect. You fing shot him! he bellowed, nearly coming out of his chair. 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. 1983 claiming that she was wrongfully arrested for a killing that she did not commit, which landed her in jail for nine days. Lord was slumped over in a chair, still wearing her blood-stained clothes. Lord has just been awarded $800,000 in a jury verdict from a Dallas jury that has found Lord to be the victim of false arrest. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. Why, he wanted to know, would a man suddenly shoot himself after what seemed to be a routine argument with his girlfriend? After Jaffe went home, the argument escalated. And youd say, you know, Thats not a toy., Jaffe said that Burnside had pulled out a gun that night. She said that she had phoned Jaffe because she initially thought Burnside had fallen and was hurt. It was a very overwhelming issue., Thompson leaned back in his chair and stared at Lord. 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. 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 explained that after she had found Burnside, her calls to 911 kept getting dropped due to a weak signal on her cellphone. Lord was accused of murder countless times, and she always denied it. Or, asked Shearin, did Thompson say that Burnside was stressed about owing money to the IRS? As Tatia Wilson, one of the City of Dallas attorneys representing Thompson, explained to the jury in her opening statement, Sometimes homicide detectives may make mistakes in their evaluation of the evidence. 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. But Love also acknowledges that he is bewildered at the idea of Burnside shooting himself. 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