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{{Short description|American woman wrongly convicted of murder}}
'''Kirstin Blaise Lobato''' is a [[Nevada]] woman who was [[
| url =
| title = Nightmare in Sin City:
| last = Smith
| first = Jordan
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150313023859/https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/12/murderinvegas/
| archive-date=2015-03-13
|
| access-date = 2015-03-19
| quote = In the long-running TV crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', set in Las Vegas, the city's police, crime scene analysts and medical examiner are portrayed as efficient and fearless advocates for truth in justice — they leave no stone unturned and are swift and resolute in their evidentiary analyses. In the real-life case of Duran Bailey, nothing could have been further from the truth.
}}</ref> At her first trial in May 2002, she was convicted of [[first-degree murder]] and sentenced
| title = Lobato found guilty of murder: Teen-ager faces July 2 sentencing hearing in homeless man's slaying
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-19
| url = http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2680964
}}</ref><ref name = lvs-2002-08 /> In a 2006 [[new trial|retrial]], she was convicted of the [[lesser included offense|lesser charges]] of [[voluntary manslaughter]]
| title = Kirstin Lobato Has New Evidence Scientifically Proving It Is Physically Impossible She Committed Her Convicted Crimes … Will It Matter To The Nevada Supreme Court?
| author = Hans Sherrer
| publisher =
| date = 2013-07-08
| url = http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/2475
}}</ref>
On December 29, 2017, Lobato was ordered to be released from the Nevada Department of Corrections.<ref name="reviewjournal.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/judge-tosses-case-against-kirstin-lobato-orders-her-freed/|title = Judge tosses case against Kirstin Lobato, orders her freed|date = 29 December 2017}}</ref> It was reported on Jan 2, 2018, that Lobato will spend another year in prison for an unrelated incident,<ref name="fox5vegas.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/37175158/kirstin-blaise-lobato-to-be-held-for-additional-year-behind-bars|title = AG: Lobato, exonerated of murder, likely will not spend additional year behind bars}}</ref> yet on Jan 3 the same judge who had ordered Lobato's original release, ordered her released on that unrelated matter as well, citing time-served.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/courts/clark-county-judge-orders-immediate-release-for-kirstin-lobato/|title = Kirstin Lobato freed from Las Vegas jail|date = 3 January 2018}}</ref>
Lobato was released from the Clark County Detention Center at about 2 pm on January 3, 2018.<ref name="justicedenied.org">{{Cite web|url=http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/4135|title=Kirstin Lobato Released!! – Justice Denied}}</ref> 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."<ref name="justicedenied.org"/>
== Accusations ==
Beginning in late May 2001, Kirstin Lobato, then {{Age|1982|12|14|2001|05|25}}, began telling numerous friends in Las Vegas and her hometown of Panaca that a large black man tried to rape her at a [[Budget Suites of America|Budget Suites]] [[Hotel]] on Boulder Highway in east Las Vegas. Lobato was consistent in telling these people that she fended off the attempted sexual assault by using a pocket knife she carried for self-defense, to try and cut her attacker's penis. From late May to July 4, 2001 she told at least nine different people about the Budget Suites attack.<ref>http://justicedenied.org/books/lobato_conviction_3rd.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>
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 (law)|confession]] to Bailey's murder, while Lobato claimed to be describing her attack.<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-09>{{
▲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 (law)|confession]] to Bailey's murder, while Lobato claimed to be describing her attack.<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-09>{{Cite news
| title = Prosecutor says conversation ties teen to killing
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-09
| url = http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2709177
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== First trial ==
{{Criminal procedure (trial)}}
While prosecutors expected Lobato to plead [[not guilty (plea)|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]].<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-29>{{
| title = Convicted killer turned down plea deal
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-29
| url = http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2674566
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| title = Kirstin Lobato says she was out of town the night Duran Bailey was mutilated and murdered.
| author = Matt Pordum
| publisher =
| date = 2006-09-15
| url = http://www.injustice-anywhere.org/KirstinLobatosaysshewasoutoftownthenightDuranBaileywasmutilatedandmurdered.html
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130126011720/http://www.injustice-anywhere.org/KirstinLobatosaysshewasoutoftownthenightDuranBaileywasmutilatedandmurdered.html
| archive-date= 2013-01-26
|
}}</ref> 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,<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-16>{{
| title = 'Sensitive' defendant denies mutilation slaying charge
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-16
| url = http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2697542
}}</ref> 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.<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-17-1>{{
| title = Expert's testimony limited: Forensics specialist: Evidence excludes Lobato from scene
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-17
| url=http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2692374
}}</ref> In their closing statement, Lobato's attorneys compared her trial to the [[Salem witch trials]].<ref name = lvrj-gp-2002-05-17-2>{{
| title = CLOSING ARGUMENTS: Jurors deliberate severed penis slaying
| author = Glenn Puit
|
| date = 2002-05-17
| url = http://injusticebusters.org/index.htm/Lobato/Kirstin_Lobato_trial.htm#anchor2686696
}}</ref> 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.<ref name = lvs-2002-08>{{
|title = Lobato receives 100 years in mutilation slaying of man
|last = Smith
|first = Kim
|
|date = 2002-08-28
|url = http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2002/aug/28/lobato-receives-100-years-in-mutilation-slaying-of/
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114638/http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2002/aug/28/lobato-receives-100-years-in-mutilation-slaying-of/
|archive-date = 2014-08-26
|
|accessdate = 2015-03-19
|quote = Kohn and fellow defense attorney Gloria Navarro told jurors that police never discussed the date of Bailey's death with Lobato. She thought they were questioning her about a Memorial Day weekend attack.
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|court=Supreme Court of Nevada
|date=2004-09-03
|url=
|accessdate=2015-03-19
|quote=We reverse Lobato's convictions and remand for a new trial.
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In May 2010, Lobato filed a [[writ of habeas corpus]] petition that asserted 79 grounds for a new trial. Among those was her claim of actual innocence based on new evidence discovered after her trial proving she was in [[Panaca, Nevada]], during the time when Bailey was killed. Judge Vega denied Lobato's petition in June 2011. Lobato [http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/document/view.do?csNameID=27064&csIID=27064&deLinkID=343915&sireDocumentNumber=11-23319 appealed that ruling] to the Nevada Supreme Court on August 1, 2011.
In February 2011 Lobato filed a post-conviction petition for DNA testing of crime scene evidence. The [[Innocence Project]] agreed to pay for the testing if Lobato's petition was granted. The petition was opposed by the Clark County District Attorney's Office, and denied by Judge Vega. Lobato appealed that ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court, which on January 12, 2012 [http://justicedenied.org/lobato/lobatoorderdismissingdnaappeal011212.pdf dismissed her appeal] on the basis Judge Vega's ruling was not appealable under NRS 176.0918.
After Lobato's DNA testing petition was denied, an [[online petition]] has called for the Nevada courts to test the crime scene evidence in Lobato's case, claiming it can prove she is an innocent person.<ref name = lvcl-2012-07>{{Cite news
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|last = Kingsley
|first = Amy
|publisher =
|date = 2012-07-13
|url = http://lasvegascitylife.com/sections/news/update-da-dna-and-kirstin-lobato-murder-case.html
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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150217083536/http://lasvegascitylife.com/sections/news/update-da-dna-and-kirstin-lobato-murder-case.html
|archive-date= 2015-02-17
|
|quote = When she was arrested, Lobato readily told police that she'd been attacked, and had used her knife to slash at the man's exposed genitals. She sticks by that story to this day. Only her attack took place several weeks before Bailey's murder, supporters say.
}}</ref>
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|first = Hans
|date = November 2010
|title = Kirstin Blaise Lobato's Unreasonable Conviction:
|url = http://justicedenied.org/books/lobato_conviction_2nd.pdf
|location = Seattle, WA
|publisher = The Justice Institute
|via = [http://justicedenied.org/lobatobook.html Kirstin Lobato Case Book Free Online]
|isbn = 978-1-4538-8624-3 <!-- isbn-10 = 1-453886-24-9 -->
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130611003021/http://justicedenied.org/books/lobato_conviction_2nd.pdf
|archive-date = 2013-06-11
|
|access-date = 2015-03-19
|quote=...[I]mportant facets of Blaise's case can only be fleshed out in the longer form of a book. Among other things it enables the presentation of tables and graphs that aid visualizing such things as the details of Blaise's alibi, and that there is a lack of intersection between the details in her police statement and the peculiar facts of the man's murder.
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|last = Sherrer
|first = Hans
|publisher =
|date = 2013-01-01
|url=http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/2975
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150213223114/http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/2329
|archive-date = 2015-02-13
|
|accessdate = 2015-03-19
|quote = More than 53,000 copies of the book Kirstin Blaise Lobato's Unreasonable Conviction — Possibility of Guilt Replaces Proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt have been downloaded at no charge from Justice Denied's website.*
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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."<ref name = int-js-2015-03 />
Retired FBI agent Moore believes that Duran Bailey might have been
| url = https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/12/murderinvegas/
| title = Nightmare in Sin City:
| last = Smith
| first = Jordan
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150313023859/https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/12/murderinvegas/
| archive-date=2015-03-13
|
| access-date = 2015-03-19
| quote = But, Ravell and Moore point out, if there was one person in town who might have had a reason to harm Bailey as brutally as the prosecutors have insisted Lobato did, it was D---- P----, the woman who approached the police line on the morning of July 9. Bailey had allegedly raped her exactly one week before he was murdered, giving P----, or one of the neighbors who witnessed her troubling encounters with Bailey, a clear motive. While the report on P----’s rape was in the hands of police, it was never taken seriously by the state.
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150127183711/http://lasvegascitylife.com/sections/opinion/knappster/george-knapp-judge-vega-says-she%E2%80%99s-sorry.html
| archive-date = 2015-01-27
|
| access-date = 2015-03-20
| quote = In all likelihood, it means she will never be able to win re-election, even if she chose to run again in 2014.
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130821085022/http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/crime-courts/judge-vega-wont-seek-re-election
| archive-date = 2013-08-21
|
| access-date = 2015-03-20
| quote = Earlier this year, the judge agreed to a public reprimand by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline for putting her personal schedule ahead of a murder trial.
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150310173657/http://www.nvbar.org/content/eighth-judicial-district-court-judge-valorie-vega-will-not-seek-re-election
| archive-date = 2015-03-10
|
| access-date= 2015-03-20
| quote = Judge Valorie Vega has recently said she will not seek re-election prior to her term expiring in January 2015 and instead will let an open election take place.
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140913030032/http://caseinfo.nvsupremecourt.us/public/caseView.do?csIID=27064
| archive-date= 2014-09-13
|
| access-date = 2015-04-26
}}</ref> and the Court's ruling is 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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Jordan|title=LAS VEGAS PENIS MURDER CONVICTION OVERTURNED|url=https://theintercept.com/2017/12/21/kirstin-blaise-lobato-las-vegas-homeless-penis-murder/|website=The Intercept|date=21 December 2017|accessdate=22 December 2017}}</ref>
On December 29, 2017 Chief Judge Elizabeth
Lobato was released from the Clark County Detention Center at about 2 pm on January 3, 2018.<ref name="justicedenied.org"/> 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."<ref name="justicedenied.org"/>
== See also ==
▲{{Portal|Law|Criminal justice}}
* [[Exculpatory evidence]]
* [[False confession]]
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== References ==
{{Reflist|33em}}
== External links ==
* [http://justicedenied.org/kbl.htm/ Justice Denied's Kirstin Blaise Lobato webpage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001100834/http://justicedenied.org/kbl.htm |date=2017-10-01 }}
{{Law}}
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[[Category:Wrongful conviction advocacy]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Nevada]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]]
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