LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Kirstin Blaise Lobato has received a $29.5 million settlement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department nearly a decade after she was released from prison.
Lobato was arrested when she was 18 years old in 2001 after Duran Bailey was found murder. In 2006, she was sentenced to 13 to 35 years in prison.
MORE ON FOX5: Woman falsely accused of murder to receive $34 Million from Las Vegas police
However, in 2017, a Nevada Supreme Court judge dropped Lobato’s charges and ordered that she be released from prison. She was released from prison in 2018, when she was 35.
Lobato later filed a lawsuit against LVMPD in 2019, claiming she was framed for Bailey’s murder by two officers identified as Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle.
In December 2024, a U.S. District Court jury unanimously decided to award Lobato a $34 million settlement from LVMPD in a lawsuit accusing two officers of framing her for the murder of Duran Bailey in 2001. The involved officers were both ordered to pay damages to Lobato for $10,000 each
Lobato’s attorney, David Owens confirmed in a statement to FOX5 that a settlement of $29.5 million, which was reached on appeal, has been received.
Owens continued, “After 25 years, Lobato can finally move on with her life with some sense of justice and this horrific series of events behind her.”
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
