Prosecutors filed a motion Friday to dismiss all federal perjury charges against a Fort Collins police officer accused of lying during the investigation and wrongful conviction of Tim Masters for murder.

The decision to dismiss the seven counts of perjury against Lt. Jim Broderick came after the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal made by the Weld County district attorney’s office, said District Attorney Ken Buck. The appeal sought to restore two additional counts of perjury that had been previously dismissed by the trial court.

“The thing that convinced me to charge the case was the pattern of behavior,” Buck said. “Without those two counts, I felt that we couldn’t prove that pattern of behavior.”

Buck declined to elaborate with other examples but said the decision to dismiss the charges was difficult.

“It is unfortunate for a lot of reasons,” Buck said. “I feel bad for Tim Masters and for the system of justice.”

Broderick, 55, was the lead investigator in the 1987 murder of 37-year-old Peggy Hettrick.

Her body was found the morning of Feb. 11, 1987, in a field near Masters’ home. Masters, then 15, was a suspect early in the case in part because he stopped and looked at what was later determined to be Hettrick’s body. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

In 2008, new DNA evidence cleared Masters, who by then had served nearly a decade in prison.

Attorney General John Suthers exonerated Masters in June 2011.

A grand jury indicted Broderick on perjury charges in June 2010, but those were dismissed after a Weld County district judge ruled that the three-year statute of limitation had lapsed.

He was reindicted on nine perjury counts by a second grand jury in July 2011.

Two of the counts resulting from the second indictment were dismissed by the trial court. They alleged that Broderick lied when he testified that there was only one shoe print at the murder scene, made by a Thom McAn shoe. The second charge alleged that he lied about the color of the spray paint on a bridge near the murder scene.

Without the ability to pursue the two charges, prosecutors would not be able to prove the remaining seven counts, Buck said.

Because of conflict-of-interest issues, Buck was named special prosecutor in the case against Broderick.

Friday’s motion was a step toward closure, said Broderick’s attorney, Patrick Tooley.

“I’m pleased that this matter is behind Jim and the prosecution properly recognized their ethical duties and it was on that basis that they dismissed the case,” Tooley said.

Broderick was placed on administrative leave in 2010. He will remain on paid leave until the completion of an internal investigation, said Rita Davis, spokeswoman for Fort Collins Police Services.

Masters, who received $10 million from Larimer County and the city of Fort Collins for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794, jsteffen@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jsteffendp