By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-15 18:22:13 | Updated at 2024-12-15 20:49:30
2 hours ago
An ‘uphill battle’: Jury awards woman $34M, finds detectives fabricated evidence
https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/jury-awards-woman-more-than-34m-finds-detectives-fabricat ^ | December 12, 2024 | Katelyn Newberg
Posted on 12/15/2024 10:20:46 AM PST by xxqqzz
A jury has ruled in favor of Kirstin “Blaise” Lobato, finding that two Las Vegas police detectives fabricated evidence against her in a 2001 murder.
The verdict was read Thursday afternoon following a day and a half of deliberations. When U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware announced the jury had ruled in her favor, Lobato looked to the courtroom ceiling and gasped before she began crying and hugging her attorneys.
The jury awarded Lobato $34 million in compensatory damages, plus $20,000 in punitive damages, ruling that Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, now retired, fabricated evidence and intentionally caused Lobato emotional distress.
Lobato continued smiling as she spoke with reporters outside the courthouse, still occasionally hugging her attorneys.
“It’s been an uphill battle with many, many obstacles,” Lobato said. “And I’m happy that it’s all finally finished.”
The trial began last week in Lobato’s lawsuit against Metro and the two detectives. Lobato accused the detectives of framing her for the murder of Duran Bailey, who was found dead on July 8, 2001, badly beaten and with his penis severed.
Her attorneys said in closing arguments this week that either detectives knew Lobato was innocent, or they were deliberately indifferent to her innocence.
Lobato spent more than 15 years incarcerated and was released from police custody in early 2018, after the district attorney’s office declined to pursue a third trial against her. A judge had vacated her conviction for a second time after finding that she received ineffective counsel, following the presentation of new evidence showing Lobato was at her parents’ home in Panaca at the time Bailey died.
On Oct. 30, District Judge Veronica Barisich signed a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s murder.
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: lawsuit; police
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Apparently, this 18-year-old woman came to the attention of the police when she fought off an attempted rape. There was some homeless guy found dead and they couldn't solve it. They arrested her and got some prisoner to say she confessed in exchange for a lighter sentence.
The county has unlimited money, so they can come up with big verdicts.
1 posted on 12/15/2024 10:20:46 AM PST by xxqqzz
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