A former Nevada woman wrongly imprisoned for more than three decades was awarded a Certificate of Innocence by Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford on Monday.
Ford's Office also announced $2,850,000 from the state as compensation.
The AG's Office says on February 24, 1976, Michelle Mitchell was murdered near the University of Nevada, Reno campus. In 1981, following statements made while confined in a mental institution in Louisiana, Woods was charged and twice convicted of Mitchell’s murder in Washoe County.
Woods was released from prison in 2014 when new DNA evidence from a crime-scene cigarette butt was linked to an Oregon inmate recently convicted of two California killings.
The AG's Office say in 2019, the Nevada Legislature adopted Assembly Bill 267 – codified in NRS 41.900 et seq. – to compensate persons who have been wrongfully incarcerated if they can prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that they did not commit the crime for which they were convicted, were not an accomplice, and did not otherwise cause their own conviction.
Washoe County Commissioners previously awarded Woods $3 million for her wrongful conviction.
Additional costs, including reasonable attorney fees, educational expenses, counseling services and certain other reimbursements are also permitted.
