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A Rural County Owes $28 Million for Wrongful Convictions. It Doesn’t Want to Pay[Nebraska]
The New York Times ^ | 01 April 2019 | Jack Healy

Posted on 04/01/2019 5:55:15 PM PDT by Theoria

Kathy Gonzalez knows that many people across the cornfields and cattle ranches of eastern Nebraska believe she is a murderer. It doesn’t change the fact that they owe her millions of dollars.

Ms. Gonzalez was one of six innocent people who collectively spent 77 years in prison for the murder of a 68-year-old woman named Helen Wilson, whose death haunted this rural county for decades. Now, years after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants, they are about to collect a $28 million civil rights judgment against Gage County, which prosecuted them based on false confessions.

But because the county has limited financial resources and a dwindling population, nearly all of its 22,000 residents must foot the bill by paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in higher property taxes. County leaders have pleaded for help from state lawmakers, and even flirted with declaring bankruptcy.

“Do I think it’s fair these people are going to have to pay us off?” Ms. Gonzalez asked. “No. But it wasn’t fair what they did to us, either.”

The $28 million jury award is one of the largest judgments ever levied against such a small place, say experts who study wrongful convictions. It has stirred resentment in the coffee shops and bars of Beatrice, a small town where suspicions about the defendants — known as the Beatrice Six — still linger like an oil stain on the road.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: beatricesix; conviction; dna; gagecounty; helenwilson; kathygonzalez; lookwhohatescops; nebraska; reparations; rural
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1 posted on 04/01/2019 5:55:15 PM PDT by Theoria
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To: Theoria

Just give them the entire county.


2 posted on 04/01/2019 6:00:38 PM PDT by Innovative
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Thanks Theoria. It would be much cheaper just to cap all six of them, and their lawyers.

3 posted on 04/01/2019 6:08:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Theoria

“property taxes”

Why don’t they start by taking it out of the pensions of those who screwed up?


4 posted on 04/01/2019 6:12:12 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: Theoria

Dissolve the country Government. Sell all of the buildings and equipment. Pay up. Put the country under the control of the state.

Let the citizenry install (on their own dime) water wells and septic system. Let them form groups if they desire and grade roads.

After they make themselves solvent again, they can look at becoming incorporated.

Speaking from Grayson County, Texas this absolutely needs to be done with McLennan County.


5 posted on 04/01/2019 6:19:21 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: SunkenCiv
And then cap every single one of the citizens who benefited because they would fully deserve it.

If any one of them didn't want to pay out, they would have moved heaven and earth to make sure they had a scrupulous Government.

6 posted on 04/01/2019 6:22:24 PM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: MrEdd
How did any of them benefit from it?

7 posted on 04/01/2019 6:24:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Theoria

I live in Gage county about 7 miles from Beatrice, personally I think 28 million divided by 6 people who spent in excess of 20 years in prison each for a crime they didnt commit isn’t really enough. The county probably spent 5 million in legal fees fighting this.


8 posted on 04/01/2019 6:31:16 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: Theoria

There are people who will never believe these people aren’t guilty no matter the evidence. There people like that even when someone else confesses. Just like with Bill Clinton. A woman was told that Clinton had admitted he’d had an affair with Jennifer Flowers. Her response? “I still don’t believe it.”

And cops and DA’s will NEVER admit they had the wrong guy.


9 posted on 04/01/2019 6:34:24 PM PDT by Terry Mross (I'm)
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To: MrEdd
Jan Houseman [daughter of Helen Wilson, the victim]:

"How can you be wrongly convicted when you plead guilty?"

The trouble with Americans is that they don't know how their "justice" system works.

They're like children.

10 posted on 04/01/2019 6:36:55 PM PDT by an amused spectator (Mitt Romney, Chuck Schumer's p*ssboy)
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To: Husker24
Reading the background on Wiki, it sounds as if the prosecutor was the dishonest one and found a forensic pathologist from Oklahoma to testify, based on her false evidence. The state's own forensic pathologist was not called to testify (her analysis showed none of the six matched body fluids from the victim).

The false confessions were obtained with the threat of the death penalty.

11 posted on 04/01/2019 6:37:16 PM PDT by Abby4116
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To: Terry Mross
And cops and DA’s will NEVER admit they had the wrong guy.

Well, at least prosecutors don't have a blank checkbook to defend against having to admit they had the wrong guy.

Oh, wait... ;-)

12 posted on 04/01/2019 6:38:51 PM PDT by an amused spectator (Mitt Romney, Chuck Schumer's p*ssboy)
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To: SunkenCiv

“It would be much cheaper just to cap all six of them, and their lawyers.”

Actually they should strip every law enforcement official involved in the case of all their assets for a start. Surely you’re not suggesting murdering these people who were falsely convicted. Are you?

Voters are ultimately responsible for the people they put into office, one way or another. It’s just in this case the bite on the ass was particularly severe. I feel zero sympathy for them.

L


13 posted on 04/01/2019 6:41:00 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending it is.)
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To: an amused spectator

In 2008 DNA evidence implicated in the murders Bruce Allen Smith, an original prime suspect who had died in 1992, and all of the Beatrice Six were exonerated the following year.[4][5]


14 posted on 04/01/2019 6:41:37 PM PDT by Abby4116
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To: Abby4116

Correct, I actually worked with 2 of the people involved when I worked at the Sheriff’s office on 05 to 07. Dr. Price and Deputy Sandersfeld. We were not allowed to even discuss the subject amongst coworkers.


15 posted on 04/01/2019 6:41:38 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: SunkenCiv

“How did any of them benefit from it?”

The question is irrelevant. They voted for a bunch of crooks. Now they can reap the consequences.

Zero sympathy.

Zero.

L


16 posted on 04/01/2019 6:42:49 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending it is.)
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To: Lurker

This case happened in the early 80s, many people werent born yet or didn’t live in the county at the time.


17 posted on 04/01/2019 6:43:49 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: Husker24

When the tax bills go out I bet there will be plenty of discussion.


18 posted on 04/01/2019 6:44:37 PM PDT by Abby4116
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To: Lurker
So, we need to rely on your ESP as to who they voted for, and why the defendants gave false confessions? No thanks.

19 posted on 04/01/2019 6:45:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Abby4116

Ohh believe me, there already is.


20 posted on 04/01/2019 6:45:46 PM PDT by Husker24
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