An ‘uphill battle’: Jury awards woman $34M, finds detectives fabricated evidence

A jury has ruled in favor of Kirstin “Blaise” Lobato, finding that two Las Vegas police detectives fabricated evidence against her in a 2001 murder.

The verdict was read Thursday afternoon following a day and a half of deliberations. When U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware announced the jury had ruled in her favor, Lobato looked to the courtroom ceiling and gasped before she began crying and hugging her attorneys.

The jury awarded Lobato $34 million in compensatory damages, plus $20,000 in punitive damages, ruling that Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle, now retired, fabricated evidence and intentionally caused Lobato emotional distress.

Lobato continued smiling as she spoke with reporters outside the courthouse, still occasionally hugging her attorneys.

“It’s been an uphill battle with many, many obstacles,” Lobato said. “And I’m happy that it’s all finally finished.”

The trial began last week in Lobato’s lawsuit against Metro and the two detectives. Lobato accused the detectives of framing her for the murder of Duran Bailey, who was found dead on July 8, 2001, badly beaten and with his penis severed.

Her attorneys said in closing arguments this week that either detectives knew Lobato was innocent, or they were deliberately indifferent to her innocence.

Certificate of innocence

Lobato spent more than 15 years incarcerated and was released from police custody in early 2018, after the district attorney’s office declined to pursue a third trial against her. A judge had vacated her conviction for a second time after finding that she received ineffective counsel, following the presentation of new evidence showing Lobato was at her parents’ home in Panaca at the time Bailey died.

On Oct. 30, District Judge Veronica Barisich signed a certificate declaring Lobato innocent of Bailey’s murder.

Throughout the trial, Lobato’s attorneys accused detectives of using misleading witness statements, omitting facts in police reports and destroying notes used to write those reports.

Her attorneys said Lobato only ever admitted to fighting back during an attempted sexual assault more than a month before Bailey was killed, and they argued that detectives later used her history of sexual assault against her in interviews.

Attorney Craig Anderson, who represents the detectives, argued Tuesday that Lobato’s certificate of innocence does not prove the detectives fabricated evidence against her.

Lobato was 18 when she was interviewed by police without an attorney and then arrested. She has disputed several statements attributed to her in police reports, although detectives testified that those statements came from a portion of the police interview that was not recorded.

The detectives and their attorney declined to comment after the verdict was read on Thursday. Anderson told the judge that he expects to file additional briefs addressing the verdict.

‘They failed a child’

Attorney David Owens, who helped represent Lobato, said the verdict was a win for sexual assault survivors.

“That’s what this lawsuit is about. It’s about other women in this country who have been hurt and harmed, and who should be protected by the police,” Owens said. “Metro failed here. They failed a child.”

The jury ruled that Thowsen and LaRochelle should be liable for $10,000 each of punitive damages. According to court records, Metro agreed to pay compensatory damages should the jury rule in Lobato’s favor.

Lobato said she doesn’t know if $34 million in compensatory damages will make up for the years she spent in prison.

“I have no idea what the rest of my life is going to look like,” Lobato told reporters outside the courthouse. “All I know is what the past has looked like, and it was pretty bad.”

Although Lobato said she “can’t speculate” if she was purposefully framed, her attorneys said the jury’s ruling shows the detectives’ acts were intentional.

“That was part of the evidence that we presented at trial,” said attorney Elizabeth Wang. “Of course they intentionally framed her, and that’s what the jury saw.”

Last week, Metro released a letter written by Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, in which the officials questioned why the attorney general’s office settled a state case with Lobato, leading to a judge granting her the certificate of innocence.

The letter stated that “key parties involved in her prosecution” still believe she is guilty.

Lobato said Thursday that it was “horrendous” to sit through the trial knowing that officials don’t believe she is innocent.

“There were points where I was devastated,” Lobato said. “There were points where I was shaking with rage because it’s so incredibly unfair that the truth is clear as day, and they still just dig in their feet — zero accountability and zero remorse.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.