Federal jury in Nevada awarded $34 million to Kirstin Blaise Lobato, after finding that Las Vegas police fabricated evidence led to nearly 16 years of incarceration for a murder she did not commit.
Emotional Verdict Delivered in Federal Court
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Lobato cried and embraced her attorneys as U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware read the jury’s verdict. The civil trial jury found that:
Las Vegas police fabricated evidence
Two detectives intentionally inflicted emotional distress
The misconduct directly contributed to Lobato’s wrongful arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment
The jury awarded:
$34 million in compensatory damages against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
$10,000 in punitive damages against each detective individually
The department had previously agreed to pay damages if the jury ruled in Lobato’s favor.
Detectives Found Liable for Fabricating Evidence
The jury found that retired detectives Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle engaged in investigative misconduct during the 2001 homicide investigation.
The detectives and their attorney, Craig Anderson, declined to comment publicly following the verdict. Anderson informed the court that additional filings would follow and stated that an appeal is likely.
Arrested at 18 Without an Attorney
Lobato was just 18 years old when she was questioned by police without legal representation, arrested, and charged with killing Duran Bailey in July 2001.
Bailey, who had been homeless, was found dead near a trash bin in Las Vegas with:
A slashed throat
A cracked skull
Mutilation injuries
Despite the severity of the crime, no physical evidence, forensic proof, or eyewitness testimony connected Lobato to the killing.
Jailhouse Confession That Never Happened
Investigators claimed Lobato confessed while in jail, allegedly telling another inmate she killed a man who tried to rape her during a three-day methamphetamine binge.
Lobato consistently denied the confession and maintained she had never met Bailey.
That alleged confession became the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case—despite later findings that the evidence was unreliable and improperly handled.
Two Wrongful Convictions
2002 Murder Conviction Overturned
At age 19, Lobato was convicted of murder in 2002. In 2004, the Nevada Supreme Court overturned the conviction, ruling that her constitutional rights were violated when her attorneys were not allowed to cross-examine the prosecution’s key witness regarding the alleged confession.
2006 Retrial and Conviction
Lobato was tried again in 2006 and convicted of:
Manslaughter
Mutilation
Weapon charges
She was sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison, effectively spending her young adulthood behind bars for a crime she did not commit.
Exoneration After Innocence Project Intervention
In late 2017, after years of advocacy by the Innocence Project and Las Vegas attorneys, the Nevada Supreme Court vacated Lobato’s conviction.
The court found that evidence clearly showed Lobato was in Panaca, Nevada—approximately 150 miles away from Las Vegas—at the time of the killing.
She was formally exonerated and released from prison after nearly 16 years of wrongful incarceration.
Civil Verdict Affirms Institutional Failure
The 2024 civil verdict confirms what years of appeals and investigations revealed: the justice system failed Kirstin Lobato at every stage.
The jury’s finding that police fabricated evidence and caused intentional emotional harm reinforces longstanding concerns about:
Coerced or false confessions
Prosecutorial overreach
Lack of safeguards for young defendants
Accountability gaps in law enforcement investigations
Why This Verdict Matters Nationwide
Wrongful conviction cases like Lobato’s are not isolated incidents. Across the United States, exonerations continue to expose systemic failures that disproportionately affect young, vulnerable defendants.
This verdict sends a powerful message:
Fabricating evidence carries consequences
Civil courts remain a critical path to accountability
Justice delayed does not have to mean justice denied
Conclusion
The $34 million verdict awarded to Kirstin Lobato is not just compensation—it is a public acknowledgment of a profound injustice that stole nearly two decades of a woman’s life.
While no verdict can restore what was taken, this outcome stands as a warning to institutions and a measure of long-overdue justice for a woman who never stopped fighting to prove her innocence.
