Nevada Woman Wrongly Imprisoned for 16 Years Awarded $34 Million in Landmark Verdict
A federal jury in Nevada has awarded Kristin Lobato, now 41 and known as Blaise, over $34 million after determining she was wrongly convicted and imprisoned for nearly 16 years for a murder she did not commit. The jury found that Las Vegas police fabricated evidence and inflicted emotional distress upon her during the investigation.
Lobato was arrested at age 18 and convicted twice for the 2001 killing of Duran Bailey, a homeless man found brutally murdered in Las Vegas. Despite maintaining her innocence and presenting evidence that she was over 150 miles away at the time of the crime, she endured years of legal battles before her exoneration in 2017.
“This has been an uphill battle with many, many obstacles,” Lobato said after the verdict. “I’m happy that it’s all finally finished.”
Decades of Injustice
Lobato’s ordeal began in 2001 when Las Vegas police arrested her after an interview conducted without an attorney. Despite the lack of physical evidence linking her to the crime, prosecutors claimed she confessed in jail, a claim she consistently denied.
Convicted of murder in 2002, her sentence was overturned in 2004 by the Nevada Supreme Court due to legal errors. However, a retrial in 2006 led to another conviction for manslaughter and other charges, sentencing her to 13 to 45 years in prison.
In 2017, the Innocence Project and local attorneys successfully presented evidence to the Nevada Supreme Court showing Lobato was in her hometown of Panaca, Nevada, when the murder occurred. The court overturned her conviction, leading to her release.
A Landmark Verdict
In Thursday’s civil trial, the jury awarded Lobato $34 million in compensatory damages from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and $10,000 in punitive damages from two retired detectives, Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle. The department has already agreed to pay the damages if Lobato prevailed in court.
The verdict represents a milestone in Lobato’s journey toward justice, but she remains uncertain about the impact of the award. “I have no idea what the rest of my life is going to look like,” she said.
Lingering Controversy
Lobato’s legal saga has not ended entirely. Last October, she received a certificate of innocence from a state court in Las Vegas. However, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and District Attorney Steve Wolfson have requested an investigation into how her attorneys obtained the certificate, prolonging a case that has spanned decades.
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