Posted on 10/12/2020 9:40:52 PM PDT by Signalman
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A Nevada woman has been awarded a $2.8 million settlement from the state of Nevada and a Certificate of Innocence after spending 32 years in prison on a wrongful murder conviction.
Cathy Woods, 68, also known as Anita Carter, was released from prison in 2015 when new DNA evidence linked the 1976 killing of a Reno college student to an Oregon inmate, Rodney Halbower, who has since has been convicted of two San Francisco Bay Area slayings that happened during the same period.
In August 2019, the Washoe County Commission voted to pay Woods nearly $3 million to settle a federal lawsuit that named the former county district attorney. Woods lawsuit claimed she was intentionally framed by authorities because she was poorly educated and suffered severe mental illness.
The states settlement of $2.8 million comes after Woods filed a lawsuit against the state last year after the Nevada Legislature passed a law allowing people wrongfully convicted to seek damages. The settlement was approved by a judge on Friday, Oct. 9.
In 1981, following statements made while confined in a mental institution in Louisiana, Ms. Woods was charged and twice convicted of Ms. Mitchells murder in Washoe County.
As your attorney general, the pursuit of justice is paramount to the mission of my office, and Im encouraged that after so many years, Ms. Woods has been declared an innocent woman and will receive compensation for the years of freedom she lost, said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. While no amount of money can ever replace our freedom, I couldnt be prouder of the attorneys in my office who worked on this case to obtain justice for Ms. Woods. As I told them, Our job is justice, and you have done a great job of delivering it.'
Woods was the longest-ever wrongfully incarcerated woman in U.S. history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
“In 1981, following statements made while confined in a mental institution in Louisiana, Ms. Woods was charged and twice convicted of Ms. Mitchells murder in Washoe County”
What did she say?
Probably, “I’m innocent.”
Hopefully she gets financial help to manage that money so she doesn’t find herself milked by people and broke in a few years.
$87,500 per year in prison.
Absolutely horrible.
Poor woman.
1st piece of advice - move out of california, they’ll tax it all back
Any prosecutor who knowingly prosecutes an innocent person should be brought up on charges.
They should serve 5he sentence of the person wrongfully convicted.
dunno for some reason i pegged on california :/
His mother, a devout Catholic, went to church and prayed for him every day until he was found to be innocent and released. Thankfully she lived long enough to see her son exonerated.
The Wikipedia entry glosses over the deliberate sloppiness of the police investigation.
She confessed and detailed the murder, obviously falsely.
They’d rather clear cases than seek justice.
They will bundle cases even but offer someone a plea bargain just to close some files.
George Floyd’s family got more money.
What a travesty.
Not nearly enough.
It’s cases like this that give me pause in my long-time support of the death penalty.
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