Las Vegas, NV — In a significant legal victory, a Nevada jury issued a verdict resulting in over $34 million in damages for a woman who was wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 16 years. Convicted at age 18 for a murder in 2001 she did not commit, Kristin Lobato, now 41 and known as Blaise, was visibly emotional as the judgment was read in a U.S. District Court on Thursday.
Lobato was wrongfully accused in the grisly murder of Duran Bailey, a homeless man whose body was discovered with severe injuries near a Las Vegas dumpster. Despite the absence of physical evidence or eyewitnesses linking her to the homicide, Lobato was interrogated without legal counsel and subsequently charged based primarily on an alleged jailhouse confession made during a methamphetamine binge. She consistently denied ever meeting Bailey.
The wrongful conviction was first challenged in 2004. The Nevada Supreme Court overturned her initial murder conviction citing the inadmissibility of cross-examining a crucial prosecution witness about her alleged confession. Despite this, a subsequent retrial in 2006 led to her conviction on charges of manslaughter, mutilation, and the use of a weapon, with a sentence ranging from 13 to 45 years.
The turning point came when Lobato was exonerated in late 2017 after concerted efforts by the Innocence Project and her attorneys convinced the state Supreme Court that she was in Panaca, Nevada, 150 miles away from Las Vegas, at the time of the murder. Furthermore, in October of the prior year, a Las Vegas state court judge issued a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s killing, although this action faced scrutiny from local law enforcement officials who questioned the certificate’s issuance.
In the civil trial that followed Lobato’s release, the jury found that two former Las Vegas police detectives had fabricated evidence and caused intentional emotional distress during their investigation. The detectives, Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, along with their attorney declined to remark on the verdict but hinted at a possible appeal after the court decision.
According to the court’s decision, Las Vegas police are accountable for $34 million in compensatory damages while each of the implicated former detectives owes $10,000 in punitive damages. The magnitude of the award underscores the gravity of the misconduct found in Lobato’s investigation and the resulting hardships she endured due to her wrongful conviction.
Reflecting on her ordeal and the jury’s verdict, Lobato commented on the impossibility of compensating for the lost years but expressed relief that her prolonged legal struggle was concluded. Facing an uncertain future, she nevertheless exhibited a resilient spirit shaken by long years of injustice.
This court ruling stands as a sobering reminder of the potential fallibility of the criminal justice system and highlights the ongoing need for diligence and transparency in law enforcement practices to prevent such miscarriages of justice.
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