You said he was upset and he hollers and starts getting destructive, and the thing is, you said he gets scary. She had volunteered at an AIDS hospice. Individuals have a right to counsel when they are being questioned, this is part of the Miranda warning. Thompson has still destroyed my life and hes still out there working cases. She had told Jaffe she had driven past Burnsides house before leaving and had seen crime scene investigation vehicles parked outside. I was picking at him all night long about that, she said. A couple of clerks grinned at him. Don't be scared to look at. (Thompson still hadnt told anyone outside his office about the discrepancy.) 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. Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. Mitchell eventually told Shearin that she was willing to dismiss the charges against Lord. By the end of the interview, Thompson had returned from his lecture and walked into the room. The detective told him that he was doing what he could. 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. She appeared to be so despondent that a jailer thought she needed to be put on suicide watch. Jaffe told him that Mikey was a good ol boy who liked hunting and fishing. Lord seemed to be trying to control her breathing. 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. 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. He told the jurors that he didnt believe that Lord had shot Burnside. They couldnt get the dishwasher installed because of a broken valve, which sent water all over the floor, so they took a break. Or maybe Mikey did it, Jaffe said. Strapped around. After the argument was over, Michael stopped being sarcastic and he became quiet and somber. Wearing a black dress and black heels, Lord came into the courtroom, followed by her friends and family. After The First 48. Thats what you did! he told a stunned and confused Lord, who protested her innocence. The jury watched it. 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He walked into the kitchen and nodded at Dale Lundberg, a detective who was on call that night to work as Thompsons backup. Lord, who is now 37 years old, still lives in the same apartment, and she has barely spent any of the money she won in her lawsuit. He took her to dinner, and the date lasted the entire weekend. But what did you actually tell Michael during the argument? Nor did Burnsides parents invite her to the reception. Olivia, everyone we talked to said one consistent thing about Michael: that he loved life., He did love life. But, Jaffe added, Burnside didnt wave the gun around. He was the life of the party.. Why did you let my son bleed to death on his own kitchen floor? Her voice shook when she spoke. She was on an airplaneon her way to California. And thats hurtful. Jaffe said he had sped back to Burnsides home, arriving at the same time as the paramedics. . 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! The Hephzibah Olivia Lord by Detective Dwayne A. Thompson lasted for hours. He sustained a fatal contact gunshot wound to the right temple. In early May, word spread that the departments Public Integrity Unit had launched an investigation of Thompsons work on the Lord case. He asked her again about what she was doing during that seven-minute gap between phone calls in the house that night. Testimony continues Friday, during which Lord may take the witness stand. Lundberg paused again. But the man I loved is gone forever. 1983 claiming that she was wrongfully arrested for a killing that she did not commit, which landed her in jail for nine days. When Shearin called Lord with the news, she thanked him for all he had done for her, but then she said something else. Why did you wait seven minutes before calling 911? he yelled. Thompson asked if there was any chance that Jaffe had been carrying on a secret relationship with Lord. 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. He then asked them to ride down to Dallas police headquarters in separate squad cars to give their statements. Basing an opinion on over 30 years with the Dallas Police Department, Kim Sanders explained that the Lord interrogation was intimidation, not questioning, and as Thompson handled the questioning it was a textbook example of how police can get false confessions. In this trial, Lord was definitely the underdog. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. Thirty seconds passed as she wept before she added, There are still nights when I drive by our home just to look at it. On August 6 Brown signed the report, and Thompson was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. Still, Thompson had only a theory. I wasnt going to leave him., She then told me something she had not mentioned before. 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. Or maybe the two had struggled for the gun before it went off, leaving residue on both of them. And its going to come out.. But she maintained her innocence, claiming that he committed suicide. Thompson returned to headquarters and took the elevator to the homicide offices on the fifth floor. Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. Sometimes he would think [a gun] was unloaded and he would swing it around, you know, not trying to hurt anybody, just being stupid. 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. View the profiles of people named Dwayne Thompson. Thompson, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department, has been a homicide detective since 2006. A 9mm Beretta was also on the floor about five feet from where Burnsides body had been. She had then grabbed the bottles of cleaning products from under the sink to wash away the blood and the gunpowder residue, which would account for the chemical odor he thought he had smelled on her. In Lords case, while she was arrested by Dallas police it was soon shown that there was no murder; her boyfriend had committed suicide. Yes. 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. 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. Had she washed up with towels before the paramedics and police arrived? The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. The lawsuit also claimed that Thompson had permanently damaged Lords reputation in Dallas and caused her to suffer extreme emotional and mental anguish, including depression, insomnia, nightmares, and constant anxiety of the most extreme nature. Lord was asking for monetary damages, and according to courthouse gossip, Tittle was not willing to settle for less than seven figures. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. Instead, he gave Brandi Mitchell everything he had.. "When I work my cases, I don't have a dog in the fight," said Thompson, a homicide detective since 2006. Shearin questioned Lord about the drops of blood around the house. Dressed in one of his dark suits, Thompson strode toward his seat. Thompson studied Lord and Jaffe for a moment, then walked over to them. A&E | Air Date: unknown. She had loved dogs and painting. 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. But Detective Thompson couldnt or wouldnt accept that. Tittle said that Thompson allowed a screenplay [of the shooting] in his mind to take over. And thats a dangerous, dangerous thing if youre a homicide detective with the Dallas Police Department., Lord took the stand and was overcome with emotion as she described her love for Burnside. After the service, she told Burnsides friends that she hadnt returned any of their calls because she had been overwhelmed with grief. I want him brought down.. Weve been detectives for a long time, and we understand that sometimes things happen and we cant always control the situation, he said. I was leaning over my future husbands body, Lord said. Thompson just happened to be standing at the detectives desk, and he was more than happy to talk to Shearin. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Testimony. But Lords attorney, Don Tittle, said the detective was wrong that police records show she called 911 immediately after trying to reach the friend. And youd say, you know, Thats not a toy., Jaffe said that Burnside had pulled out a gun that night. What do you guys think? Thompson had also told him that he believed there was blood spatter from the gunshot on Lords clothes, which meant that she could not have been in the bathroom at the time of the shooting, despite what Lord had said in her interview. Happened to be put on suicide watch seemed to be put on suicide watch testimony continues Friday, during Lord. A linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds she needed to be at... 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