LVMPD approve $29.5M settlement with wrongfully convicted woman
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has accepted a $29.5 million settlement with Kirstin Blaise Lobato, a woman who spent more than 16 years in prison after she was wrongfully convicted of murder.
The proposed settlement appeared on the Sept. 9 agenda for the Metropolitan Police Committee on Fiscal Affairs. Lobato’s attorney, David Owens, confirmed to News 3 that the settlement was accepted during that meeting.
The agreement comes after a federal jury in December 2024 awarded Lobato $34 million in damages in her civil lawsuit against LVMPD. The jury found in favor of Lobato, who was convicted in the 2001 killing of Duran Bailey.
Lobato’s lawsuit alleged that detectives fabricated evidence, mischaracterized her statements and falsely suggested she confessed to the killing, despite her attorneys’ argument that she had an alibi in Panaca at the time of Bailey’s death.
Her conviction was vacated in December 2017, and all charges against her were later dropped. She was released from prison in January 2018.
A Nevada court later issued Lobato a Certificate of Innocence, formally declaring her innocent of all charges.