Thompson started his career in law enforcement as a corrections officer in a maximum-security prison in South Carolina. Thompson studied Lord and Jaffe for a moment, then walked over to them. Alternative . Between sobs, Lord begged to be taken to Parkland to be with her boyfriend. He remains convinced that he got a raw deal at the civil trial and that Tittle played the video of his interrogation of Lord only to plant in jurors minds the idea that he was an intimidating black man taking advantage of a grieving, attractive white woman. Lord seemed shocked. Was it possible that he thought he was about to lose the woman he loved?. Look at it! Shearin made his own presentation, about 25 minutes in length, laying out the case for his clients innocence. Your email address will not be published. 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. She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. I cant say any more, but its insane.. Thompson left the room, walked down the hall, and opened the door to another interview room. In this trial, Lord was definitely the underdog. Case Style: Hephzibah Olivia Lord v. Dwayne Thompson, Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas County), Defendant's Attorney: James Carroll Butt, J.G. Thompson stared at a copy of Burnsides drivers license. In fact, when Tittle asked Thompson, Is it still your belief that Olivia Lord murdered Michael Burnside? the detective didnt hesitate. At the end of the interrogation, he had discarded her like trash.. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. Edit. She was on an airplaneon her way to California. Burnsides parents say that they still cannot believe that their son took his own life. Or he mistakenly pulled the trigger thinking the Beretta was unloaded., Jaffe shook his head. See production, box office & company info. 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. Mikey said, Im not going to cheat on you in Vegas. 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. But she never did: she kept saying that she loved her boyfriend, that they were happy together, and that he had taken his life for reasons she could not imagine. 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. Instead, he gave Brandi Mitchell everything he had.. A few days after the funeral, Lord called Burnsides brother to ask if she could retrieve some of her belongings from the house. As the interview continued, however, Rastegar said that he wasnt certain what he had heard. See rank. 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. The officer flipped a page in his notebook. 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. 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. Most of Thompsons fellow officers assumed it would be only a matter of time before he was firedand perhaps even indicted. Toward the end of the year, he finally saw the video recording of Rastegars interview at police headquarters. 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. He noticed that there was a chemical odorit smelled like bleach, he would later sayon her clothes. | Editor But there was no corruption involved. 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. At the least, she said, she wanted to make sure his actions were publicly documented so that he could never do to someone else what he had done to her. He asked her why, after finding Burnside on the floor, she had first called Jaffe but then waited seven minutes before calling 911. He then asked them to ride down to Dallas police headquarters in separate squad cars to give their statements. Jaffe told him that Mikey was a good ol boy who liked hunting and fishing. Bring on the Shiplap? City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. It was so hard for us to believe that she was doing this, said Jaffe. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. (2014) Thompson did his best to defend himself. 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. Weve been detectives for a long time, and we understand that sometimes things happen and we cant always control the situation, he said. Thats Olivia Lord, he told Thompson. When the lab report on the gunshot residue was completed, it wasnt much help either. Thompson stormed out of the room and asked Lundberg to see what he could get out of Lord. Seven minutes is a long time, Thompson told her several times on the video. She had loved dogs and painting. 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. Comments are moderated and these will not be published. 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. He allowed a few seconds to pass. (Jaffe had been drinking Shiner Bock, and Burnside had been having Red Bull mixed with vodka.) The jurors, however, werent buying any of it. 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. I dont remember the exact words that were used, he told Lundberg. 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. It was now 5:44 a.m. Burnside died from a gun shot wound from a 9 mm Beretta handgun. Lord claimed that Burnside, who was intoxicated, shot himself.Thompson rejected the theory that Burnside committed suicide and investigated the death as murder. The officer pointed to a woman sitting on a chair in the front yard, her face in her hands. If I discover anything that substantiates what I believe, Im going to charge you with murder., He glared at her for a moment. 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. Self - Detective; 2009-2014 2 eps; Credits. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. Im innocent.. Still, Thompson had only a theory. Or maybe, as Thompson theorized, Lord had missed some of the residue on her hand and her shirt when she cleaned herself up after pulling the trigger. You did! Lord was released. Brian, we got a problem, Thompson said. And a handful of Burnsides friends have reunited with Lord, saying they now believe that she had nothing to do with his death. I wondered about the story Jaffe had told Thompson about finding her in the front yard, desperately saying, I wasnt going to leave him. "It was a good experience," Thompson says, "It kind of launched me into police work." 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. There were too many unanswered questions, he said. Olivia, youre not telling me the truth, Thompson told her. Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $800,000.00. Prior to her arrest, Lord had been known for her good-natured personality. When Thompson took the stand, he seemed utterly likable as he described his history as a detective. No, she said again. 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. He said when he came up to Lord in the yard, she fell to her knees and said something to the effect of Hes dying. Rastegar told Lundberg, I got the impression she was trying to tell me it was accidental. A couple of clerks grinned at him. That wont be possible, said Thompson. 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 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. Why the bottles of cleaning products and the bloody towels? Sometimes I want to walk inside, thinking he will be there. 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. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. 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. Edit. Why try to make money off Michaels death?. By that time, Lord was working as a loan officer, and although they were both romantically involved with other people, they were clearly attracted to each other. Tired of fighting, she stopped talking to Burnside and went into the bathroom to take off her makeup. 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. Shearin then asked if she was included in Burnsides will or his life insurance policy. When Shearin called Lord with the news, she thanked him for all he had done for her, but then she said something else. He asked her about some of the puzzling physical evidence that had been found at Burnsides home the night of the shooting. He said that based on Burnsides victimology, there was no way that a young man with a bright future would put a bullet in his brain simply because his girlfriend was peeved at him. He stabbed the photo of the victim with his index finger. 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. Thompsons interrogation of Lord was videotaped. Burnsides family and friends were caught off guard by the lawsuit. On May 11, 2011, in the case of Texas v. Lord, the grand jury returned a no bill. A uniformed officer walked over and told Thompson that the house belonged to a man named Michael Burnside, age thirty. Yes. 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. But she maintained her innocence, claiming that he committed suicide. Then Tittle fired back. Lets make a bad thing right. His fellow detectives nicknamed him D-Train. 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. 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. And now that he had a witness who was going to provide bombshell testimony about what had really happened that night, he was ready to go to trial. Prosecutors are also aware that detectives can develop a kind of tunnel vision about a case. "When I work my cases, I don't have a dog in the fight," said Thompson, a homicide detective since 2006. Then Shearin got his big break. They make honest, reasonable mistakes. She had volunteered at an AIDS hospice. They can try too hard to make the existing evidence fit their theory as to who is guilty. Lord spent the next four days at her mothers home in the Dallas suburbs, lying in bed, taking sleeping pills. However, Lord wasnt done with the situation and after she was released, she filed her civil lawsuit for damages. 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. They liked to say that when he pursued a suspect, he was as unstoppable as a locomotive. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. Testimony. 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. 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. I want him held accountable. Im devastated., Thompson bore down. He thought he had a mild case of COVID-19. 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