Edward Sherman Award Winners

Maria Liu, Esq. and David Wymore, Esq.

The Sherman Award is awarded periodically to recognize outstanding legal work. The Sherman Award is presented to attorneys who exhibit the same belief in justice for all and who, like Eddie Sherman, have shown spirit and heart in their generous gifts of time and talent on behalf of furthering civil liberties in Colorado.

Maria Liu, Esq. and David Wymore, Esq. have been selected as this year’s awardees for the Sherman Award, in recognition of their work as a legal team for Tim Masters and their success in having Tim Masters’ wrongful conviction for murder overturned.

Attorney Maria Liu was appointed to the case in 2003. David Wymore was recruited and a team of legal professionals, investigators and experts began an exhaustive effort to prove Tim’s innocence. They fought to get the evidence, starting with only five binders that represented the entire discovery that the defense team had in the first trial. After amassing a room full of additional evidence, they succeeded in having the judge throw out Mr. Masters’ 1999 murder conviction. DNA evidence pointed to another suspect and Tim was freed after spending nine years behind bars. A January CNN headline seemed to say it all, “Convicted by doodles, Masters is freed by DNA.”

It took a dedicated legal team and sophisticated DNA analysis to win Tim Masters’ freedom. A new Colorado law that the ACLU of Colorado testified in support of will help ensure that, in the future, DNA evidence must be preserved.

This case is a prime example of why the ACLU of Colorado is working to abolish the death penalty in our state by 2012. Tim Masters is living proof that the justice system is not always just, and our continuing vigilance is necessary to protect and preserve civil rights and civil liberties for all.

Maria Liu and David Wymore merit this honor for their exceptional legal work to further civil liberties.