- Christine Lobato was arrested when she was 18, wrongly convicted twice, and spent nearly 16 years in Nevada state prison for a 2001 murder she did not commit.
- Lobato was awarded more than $34 million after a civil jury found that Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during the investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Lobato.
- Lobato was exonerated and released from prison in 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas took her case back to the state Supreme Court, showing evidence that Lobato was about 150 miles from Las Vegas when she committed the crime.
A federal jury in Nevada has awarded more than $34 million to a woman who was arrested at age 18, wrongly convicted twice, and spent nearly 16 years in Nevada state prison for a 2001 murder she did not commit.
Kirsten LobatoA woman, now 41 and using the name Blaise, cried and hugged her attorney after the judge read the trial verdict Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“It was an uphill battle with many obstacles,” she told reporters. “And I'm glad it's all finally over.”
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Lobato said she didn't know if becoming a millionaire would make up for years in prison, adding that she had “no idea what the rest of my life would look like.”
The civil jury found that Las Vegas police and two detectives, now retired, fabricated evidence during the investigation and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Lobato. The commission decided that Lobato should receive $34 million in compensatory damages from the department and $10,000 in punitive damages from each former investigator.
Investigators Thomas Theusen and James LaRochelle and their attorney, Craig Anderson, declined to comment outside court. Anderson told U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware that he intends to submit additional documents to the court after the ruling. Anderson said Friday that an appeal is “likely.”
Kristin Lobato smiles outside the Lloyd George US Courthouse in Las Vegas with her lawyers, Elizabeth Wang and David Owens, on December 12, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
The department previously agreed to pay damages if the jury ruled in Lobato's favor.
Lobato was 18 when she was questioned by police without a lawyer, and was arrested and charged with the murder of Duran Bailey in Las Vegas in July 2001. Bailey, who was homeless, was found dead near a trash can with her neck cut and her skull fractured and missing. genitals.
There was no physical evidence or witnesses linking Lobato to the murder, and she maintained that she had never met Bailey. But the police confirmed that she confessed in prison She killed a man who attempted to rape her during a three-day meth bout.
Lobato was 19 when she was convicted of murder in 2002. The Nevada Supreme Court overturned that conviction and Lobato's prison sentence in 2004 because her attorneys were unable to cross-examine a prosecution witness who testified that Lobato made the prison confession.
Lobato was tried again in 2006, convicted of manslaughter, mutilation and weapons charges, and sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison.
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She was exonerated and released from prison in late 2017 after the Innocence Project and attorneys in Las Vegas took her case back to the state Supreme Court. Judges said evidence showed Lobato was in her hometown of Panaca, Nevada, about 150 miles from Las Vegas, when Bailey was killed.
Last October, a state court judge In Las Vegas He issued a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Billy's murder.
The action was challenged by Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Clark County Prosecutor Steve Wolfson in a letter asking State Attorney General Aaron Ford to investigate how and why Lobato's attorney obtained the certificate of innocence.
