A Las Vegas woman was sentenced for the death of a homeless man.  She was 18 years old at the time.  She's now 34.

Lobato was 18 when she was interviewed by police without an attorney,
arrested and charged with killing Duran Bailey in Las Vegas in July 2001.
Bailey, who had been homeless, was found dead near a trash bin with a
slashed neck, cracked skull and missing genitals.

https://boingboing.net/2024/12/16/las-vegas-must-pay-34m-to-woman-jailed-16-years-on-evidence-fabricated-by-police.html

She was released after serving 16 years of a 45 year prison sentence.  The police were found to have planted evidence in order to frame her for the murder.

The woman sued the police department and the 2 detectives who worked her case.  Both detectives must personally kick in $10,000 each as punitive damages.  The City of Las Vegas has agreed to pay the rest of the judgement.

Would you be willing to give up 16 of the best years of your life in exchange for $34M?  Actually, if lawyers get 33%, you'd be sitting with over $22.8M in the bank.

IMO, there's no way to compensate someone for living in a prison environment locked up away from friends, family and free society at any price.  I could see doing 1 year for at a minimum $10M after expenses.  She's basically getting $1M per year which is about $660K per year net.

Imagine you get the money, and 6 months later you are dead -- let your imagination fill in the rest.  Was that 1/2 year of freedom and wealth worth the 16 years stolen from you?

My sense of justice would have me put those detectives in prison for the same 16 years.  An eye for an eye.  They are both retired now, so no job to worry about leaving.  $10k is not much of a punishment for what they allegedly did to her.

She showed that she was 150 miles away at home when the incident happened as well. The cops should be in jail as well for at least 16 years. 

Every state has a law about paying X amount for every year someone innocent is locked up. 

Give up 16 years for $20 mil? Any hope she had to have a family w/child is gone due to her age. I mean she could still have a child, but the odds of birth defects increased big time compared to 18-30 years old.  Odds of finding a husband now that she's 45, even though she will be a millionaire, she missed her prime age of partying, dating, courtship, etc...Then add in any personality changes due to being locked up and innocent. Like truely innocent, not a procedure mistake so that's why you're free.  I'd have a chip on my shoulder.

Either way, what she should do is spend big bucks on a make over that includes plastic surgery. Tits, botox, lips, and maybe ass. Hire a stylist to show her how to dress to attack men. Spend the next year catching up on tech stuff and movies and food. Maybe a personal trainer and a gym membership cause she might get fat enjoying food. No need buy a $5 million home, but in Clark County, she can buy a very nice home for less than $1million.  No need a Ferrari either. But start with a new Toyota or something as she hasn't driven since at least 18 if she drove at all prior to that. Then upgrade to a BMW that cost less than $80K.

WIth the above, she will have enough left over to not need to work. But she should take up a part time job so she gets her social skills back. Like at a Petco, trader joes, etc...

I like the eye for an eye at minimum! 

No amount money can compensate for that kind of stuff.  Depending on the details, circumstances, who knew what and when, etc, 16 years is also no where near sufficient (IMO).  I am a$$uming there was arrogance and a sense of being untouchable that went into those involved in the framing (or whatever), which in that case they need worse than $$$ and jail. . .

I like the eye for an eye at minimum! 

No amount money can compensate for that kind of stuff.  Depending on the details, circumstances, who knew what and when, etc, 16 years is also no where near sufficient (IMO).  I am a$$uming there was arrogance and a sense of being untouchable that went into those involved in the framing (or whatever), which in that case they need worse than $$$ and jail. . .

Oh, from what i hear about cops in prison, they would have it worse than her.  Plus, she was in a women's prison i assume.  Only guards to really worry about raping you.  The male cops would get to experience the same thing they did to an innocent 18 year old  -- over and over and over ....

I also believe those 2 cops should go to jail.  What's with this $10,000 sh*t.

They were crooked cops.  Not like they made an error or something.

Oh, from what i hear about cops in prison, they would have it worse than her.  Plus, she was in a women's prison i assume.  Only guards to really worry about raping you.  The male cops would get to experience the same thing they did to an innocent 18 year old  -- over and over and over ....

I get that and still not enough (IMO). It’s the “untouchable arrogance” that is what can’t a number to.

I wonder if any other cases will be reopened that these cops were involved in? As in, how many other times have they done this.

I wonder if any other cases will be reopened that these cops were involved in? As in, how many other times have they done this.

That's always a risk when uncovering illegal or unprofessional conduct in the judicial process.  One story a year ago in NYC said lab techs/criminalists were caught cheating on a promotion exam.  After investigating them, they found the pair had also been violating review procedures for at least 33 cases.  The implications are the results from the lab were not being reviewed by someone other than the person running the lab work.  Hundreds of cases needed to be reviewed for accuracy to ensure none included errors that went unchecked.

Never heard what the legal side of the scandal results were.  I'm sure there were many lawyers using this as a reason to reopen cases.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/12/15/nyc-medical-examiners-office-reviewing-hundreds-of-cases-in-budding-lab-scandal/

That's always a risk when uncovering illegal or unprofessional conduct in the judicial process.  One story a year ago in NYC said lab techs/criminalists were caught cheating on a promotion exam.  After investigating them, they found the pair had also been violating review procedures for at least 33 cases.  The implications are they results from the lab were not being reviewed by someone other than the person running the lab work.  Hundreds of cases needed to be reviewed for accuracy to ensure none included errors that went unchecked.

Never heard what the legal side of the scandal results were.  I'm sure there were many lawyers using this as a reason to reopen cases.

https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/12/15/nyc-medical-examiners-office-reviewing-hundreds-of-cases-in-budding-lab-scandal/

Have any Kealoha cases been reopened?  I haven't heard a peep out of our media.

Thats actually a pretty good settlement at least. IIRC the guy who the documentary "Making a Murderer" was about got something like $400,000 for his years in prison.

I don't think I would trade that much of my life for that money but if I had that much of my life stolen from me I would be happy with the settlement. I would be pissed if they then took 30%+ of it as taxes though!

$10,000 is way to light of a punishment against those officers though. I wonder if the statute of limitations made it too late to prosecute them criminally.

The settlement may be non taxable if the attorney was good. A lot of personal injury lawsuits are non taxable.

At least she is still young enough to enjoy life.  I read of some cases where a guy got released in his 60s after spending over 30 years in prison

for a crime he did not commit.

10k fine? Wow. They’re literally incentivizing police corruption.

If only there were resources available on the web to look up questions pertaining to taxable income.

In the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), Congress
added an exclusion from income under section 139F of the Internal Revenue
Code. Under this exclusion, a wrongfully incarcerated individual does not
include in income any civil damages, restitution or other monetary award
received that relates to his or her incarceration for the covered
offense for which he or she was convicted (wrongful incarceration exclusion).

Q4. For the year an award for wrongful incarceration is received, what is an award
recipient required to report on a federal income tax return (Form 1040), or submit to the
IRS, to claim the wrongful incarceration exclusion?

A4. There are no reporting requirements for receipt of an award qualifying for
the wrongful incarceration exclusion. This means for the year an award for wrongful
incarceration is received, an award recipient is not required to report receipt of the
award on his or her federal income tax return (Form 1040), or submit documentation
to the IRS, to claim the wrongful incarceration exclusion.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-updates-frequently-asked-questions-related-to-wrongful-incarceration

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess she doesn't owe taxes on her judgement.

Since the state already said they would immediately pay any judgement, she won't have the award tied up in years of appeals.

The outcome is probably the best that can be expected for her.  I don't feel the same toward the detectives that framed her.

Thats actually a pretty good settlement at least. IIRC the guy who the documentary "Making a Murderer" was about got something like $400,000 for his years in prison.

I don't think I would trade that much of my life for that money but if I had that much of my life stolen from me I would be happy with the settlement. I would be pissed if they then took 30%+ of it as taxes though!

$10,000 is way to light of a punishment against those officers though. I wonder if the statute of limitations made it too late to prosecute them criminally.

"You dont think you would...". So its possible that u would.

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