Blaise Lobato gets $29.5M settlement

A woman has received a $29.5 million settlement after a jury found that Las Vegas police detectives fabricated evidence against her in a 2001 killing, her attorney said Monday.

Jurors in December 2024 ruled in favor of Kirstin “Blaise” Lobato, awarding her $34 million. After the verdict, Metro began the process of appealing that award, which could have gone on for years.

The settlement guaranteed quick payment whereas with the case being appealed, Lobato would have received nothing until the dispute was resolved, her attorney David Owens said.

“Imagine if you had some legal matter hanging over your head for nearly 30 years,” he said. “It’s just time to move on and be done and so I think that’s the biggest thing I would say. It’s over, there’s no more court proceedings about the murder of Duran Bailey in 2001.”

Online records show that the settlement payment was on the Sept. 9 agenda of the Metropolitan Police Committee on Fiscal Affairs.

Owens said the settlement with Metro and the detectives was approved, and that his client has already received the entire amount. The payment was the result of mediation during the appeal.

In Owens’ view, the size of the settlement showed the strength of Lobato’s case. The judgment had accumulated interest after the verdict, he said.

He said Lobato had no comment.

Metro did not respond to a request for an interview about the settlement, including the effects of the payment on the department. Members of the committee declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Attorneys for Metro and now-retired Detectives Thomas Thowsen and James LaRochelle did not respond to requests for comment Monday. The former detectives could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Lobato spent more than 15 years behind bars and was released in 2018 after her conviction was vacated for a second time and prosecutors chose not to pursue a third trial.

Read the full article at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.