Page 7 - AT

A7
U.S. NEWS Thursday 29 augusT 2019

Nevada woman wrongly imprisoned 35 years for murder gets $3M

By SCOTT SONNER "Although no amount of 1988.
Associated Press money will compensate A judge vacated it for
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Ne- Ms. Woods for what she en- good in 2014 after DNA
vada woman who spent 35 dured, this will go at least technology not previously
years in prison for a murder some way toward provid- available linked evidence
she didn't commit before ing care for her," Wang to Halbower. Detectives in
she was exonerated by said. Reno and Northern Cali-
DNA evidence on a crime- Woods was extremely psy- fornia subsequently identi-
scene cigarette butt will chotic and never should fied him as the "Gypsy Hills
get $3 million in a partial have been interrogated Killer," named for an area in
settlement of a federal civil by detectives investigating the San Francisco Bay Area
rights lawsuit, her lawyer the 1976 killing of 19-year- city of Pacifica where one
said Wednesday. old Michelle Mitchell, Wang body was found.
Cathy Woods, 68, will con- said. Authorities believe Hal-
tinue to seek additional The Washoe County Com- bower raped and killed six
damages from the city of mission voted 4-0 on Tues- women and girls — includ-
Reno and former detec- day to pay $3 million to set- ing Mitchell in Reno in 1976. In this Sept. 8, 2014, file photo, Cathy Woods appears in Washoe
tives she accuses of coerc- tle a portion of the federal But he only was charged District court in Reno, Nev.
ing a fabricated confession lawsuit that had named with two killings and last Associated Press
from her while she was a former county District At- year was sentenced to life
patient at a Louisiana men- torney Cal Dunlap as a de- in prison for the killings of compensate an individual ric hospital where Woods
tal hospital in 1979, accord- fendant. Wang said she will 17-year-old Paula Baxter for loss of freedom, Wash- told a counselor about "a
ing to her lawyer, Elizabeth ask a federal judge to drop and 18-year-old Veronica oe County sincerely hopes girl named Michelle being
Wang. him as a defendant after Cascio. that this monetary settle- murdered in Reno."
Woods was released from the partial settlement is fi- The county said in a state- ment will be utilized for Washoe County public
prison in 2015 when new nalized. ment it remains confident the best possible care of defender Maizie Pusich
evidence linked the 1976 A separate lawsuit filed there was no wrongdoing Woods." told The Associated Press
killing of a Reno college against the state earlier this by any county employees Woods' federal lawsuit filed in 2014 Woods didn't re-
student to an Oregon in- month also will continue, but that the settlement in 2016 says she was a poor- member confessing while
mate, Rodney Halbower, Wang said, under a new brings an end to costly liti- ly educated woman with at the hospital. "I'm told it
who has since has been Nevada law that went into gation. severe mental illness who was a product of wanting
convicted of two San Fran- effect this year allowing "The conviction and sub- was "intentionally framed" to get a private room," Pu-
cisco Bay Area slayings those wrongfully convicted sequent incarceration of by authorities. sich said. "She was being
that happened during the to seek up to $3.5 million in Woods for murder is a trag- She was bartending in Reno told she wasn't sufficiently
same period. civil damages. The federal ic situation that Washoe when Mitchell was killed. dangerous to qualify, and
Woods, who now lives with lawsuit seeks unspecified County hopes is never re- She later moved to Louisi- within a short period she
relatives near the city of An- monetary damages. peated," the county said. ana, and her mother com- was claiming she had killed
acortes, Washington, was Woods' initial conviction "While money can rarely mitted her to the psychiat- a woman in Reno."q
the longest-ever wrong- in 1980 was overturned by
fully incarcerated woman Nevada's Supreme Court.
in U.S. history, according to She was convicted again
the National Registry of Ex- in 1984, and the high court
onerations. upheld that conviction in

New York law softening

pot penalties goes into

effect

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New "For too long communities
York softened penalties for of color have been dispro-
possessing small amounts portionately impacted by
of marijuana and created laws governing marijuana
a process for erasing cer- and have suffered the life-
tain past offenses in a state long consequences of an
law that went into place unfair marijuana convic-
Wednesday. tion," said Democratic Gov.
The maximum penalty for Andrew Cuomo in a state-
possessing less than an ment issued Wednesday.
ounce of pot has been Advocates for marijuana
lowered to $50. The legisla- legalization have argued
tion also turns an unlawful the law is a positive step
marijuana possession stat- but falls short of addressing
ute into a violation similar negative consequences
to a traffic ticket, instead of that come with keeping
a criminal charge. the drug illegal. Under the
The criminal statute was re- law, they say people can
sponsible for hundreds of still face immigration con-
thousands of arrests over sequences and probation
the past four decades, ac- violations for basic marijua-
cording to state data. na possession.q