The settlement and its timing
Kirstin Lobato has received a $29.5 million settlement from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in her wrongful-conviction case, her attorney David Owens told FOX5 in a report published October 6. KTNV also reported the agreement, which ends the litigation rather than leaving the earlier jury award to be contested on appeal.
The settlement belongs to a longer timeline: it was reached in September, not newly negotiated this morning. Metro’s September 9 Fiscal Affairs Committee agenda listed a proposed $29.5 million payment to Lobato for possible action. That agenda documents the proposal; the subsequent payment is confirmed by Owens’ account to FOX5.
How this differs from the jury award
In December 2024, a federal jury awarded Lobato $34 million in damages. Local reporting describes the jury’s finding that detectives fabricated evidence in the investigation that led to her conviction. The negotiated settlement is smaller than that verdict and resolves the dispute over what she would receive.
KTNV reported that Owens considered the resolution the end of the litigation. The available reports do not provide a breakdown of how the settlement will be funded or distributed, and this article does not infer one.
A conviction overturned years earlier
Lobato’s release predates both the civil verdict and the settlement. The Innocence Project announced that she left custody on January 3, 2018, after nearly 16 years of wrongful imprisonment. Charges had been dismissed following a December 2017 decision vacating her convictions.
The organization’s account explains that the court found her trial lawyers ineffective for failing to present expert evidence about the victim’s time of death. That evidence supported her alibi in Panaca, roughly three hours from Las Vegas. The October development concerns compensation after that release, not a new reversal of her conviction.
Sources & further reading
- FOX5: attorney confirms settlement payment, October 6 · October 6, 2026
- KTNV: settlement resolves wrongful-conviction litigation · October 6, 2026
- LVMPD: September 9 Fiscal Affairs Committee agenda, item 4 · September 9, 2026
- Innocence Project: Lobato released January 3, 2018 · January 3, 2018
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