Kirstin Lobato

Kirstin Blaise Lobato is an American woman from Nevada who was exonerated for the July 2001 murder and mutilation of Duran Bailey, a homeless man from St. Louis who was living in Las Vegas at the time of his death. At her first trial in May 2002, she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced from 40 to 100 years in prison. leading Nevada's Eighth Judicial District Court to declare her exonerated and issue a formal "certificate of innocence."

On December 29, 2017, Lobato was ordered to be released from the Nevada Department of Corrections. It was reported on January 2, 2018, that Lobato would spend another year in prison for an unrelated incident, yet on January 3 the same judge who had ordered Lobato's original release, ordered her released on that matter as well, citing the time Lobato had already served.

Lobato was released from the Clark County Detention Center at about 2 pm on January 3, 2018. After being imprisoned for 11 years and three months since her pre-trial bail was revoked following her convictions on October 6, 2006, Lobato told reporters she wanted to go "shopping" and "get coffee."

On July 8, 2001, the mutilated corpse of Duran Bailey, a homeless man, was found on the opposite side of Las Vegas. Lobato was charged with the crime more than ten days later, after one of Lobato's friends informed police of her account of the sexual assault that supposedly occurred two months before. During a police interrogation, Lobato acknowledged stabbing a man in the groin, and police believed this constituted a confession to Bailey's murder, while Lobato claimed to be describing her attack.

First trial

While prosecutors expected Lobato to plead not guilty by reason of self-defense, Lobato denied committing the crime entirely; she even refused a plea deal offering a 3-year prison sentence on the charge of manslaughter. She insisted that she was at home in Panaca, Nevada, nearly from Las Vegas, on July 8, 2001, and her family confirmed that. Her attorneys also attempted to discount her supposed confession. However, prosecutors contended that Lobato was a known methamphetamine user and that she killed Bailey during a dispute over sex and drugs. During the May 2002 trial, Lobato testified to her innocence, and her attorneys brought in experts who also stated that Lobato could not have committed the crime based on physical evidence, but Judge Valorie Vega suppressed much of the experts' testimony. In their closing statement, Lobato's attorneys compared her trial to the Salem witch trials. After deliberating through the night, the jury convicted Lobato of first-degree murder. On August 27, 2002, she was sentenced to 40 to 100 years in prison.

Appeals, second trial and ongoing litigation Over two years after her conviction, on September 3, 2004, Lobato's conviction was reversed; the Supreme Court of Nevada ruled that her attorneys were unable to cross-examine a prosecution witness, who was a woman with whom Lobato was incarcerated while awaiting trial, regarding that witness's motivation for testifying for the government. Her case was remanded for a new trial. On October 6, 2006, she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 13 to 45 years in prison.

A book about the case, entitled Kirstin Blaise Lobato's Unreasonable Conviction, written by Hans Sherrer, was published in May 2008 by the Justice Institute. A second edition was published in November 2010. As of March 17, 2015 more than 53,000 copies have been downloaded at no charge from the website, Justice Denied.

Retired FBI agent Steve Moore, noted for his advocacy on behalf of Amanda Knox, has referred to the case documents in the Lobato case as, "...complete and utter bullshit."

After having been charged with misconduct and publicly reprimanded by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, Judge Valorie Vega, the judge in both of Lobato's trials, did not run for re-election in 2014, stepping down from the bench in January 2015.

On September 9, 2014 the Nevada Supreme Court, sitting en banc, heard oral arguments related to Lobato's habeas petition. The case was "Submitted for Decision. En Banc", and the Court's ruling was pending as of April 1, 2015.

On December 19, 2017, Judge Stefany Miley, a District Judge in Las Vegas, granted a new trial for Lobato.

On December 29, 2017 Chief Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered Lobato released from the Nevada Department of Corrections.