Washoe County Commissioners have agreed to pay Cathy Woods $3 million as compensation for wrongfully imprisoning her for 35 years. 

Woods was arrested and later found guilty of killing Michelle Mitchell in 1976.

After the conviction was reversed by the Nevada Supreme Court, she was again convicted by jury of the murder in November of 1985. Both times, Woods was sentenced to serve life in prison.  

Then in 2014, a DNA sample matched someone else. Her conviction was vacated and the charges against her were dismissed by the Washoe County District Attorney's Office. 

Statement from Washoe County regarding lawsuit settlement for Cathy Woods:                         

Washoe County officials endeavor to act in the best interests of our community, including through the administration of justice. Washoe County and Ms. Cathy Woods have reached a settlement of Woods’s lawsuit, which was brought in 2016 in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. 

Washoe County will compensate Woods in the amount of $3 million for her conviction and subsequent incarceration for 35 years for the 1976 murder of Ms. Michelle Mitchell. 

While money can rarely compensate an individual for loss of freedom, Washoe County sincerely hopes that this monetary settlement will be utilized for the best possible care of Woods.

The conviction and subsequent incarceration of Woods for murder is a tragic situation that Washoe County hopes is never repeated. Woods was convicted for the 1976 murder of Mitchell by two juries, in 1980 and again in 1985, based on the best evidence available at the time, including Woods’s own confessions. In 2014, DNA testing, which was unavailable at the time of Woods’s trials, implicated an individual who it was later discovered to have been in Reno at the time of the murder and is now known to be a serial killer. Based on this newly-discovered evidence, Woods’s conviction was vacated and the charges against her were dismissed by the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office. 

In 2016, Woods brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada seeking compensation for alleged wrongdoing that led to her conviction.  After a thorough review of the evidence in this case, Washoe County is confident that there was no wrongdoing by any of its employees during the investigation or prosecution of Woods. Nevertheless, this settlement allows fiscal certainty and resolution to this costly litigation and provides compensation for Woods for the over three decades of incarceration that she served. 

Through increased awareness and understanding of mental health issues, greater public resources, and the advent of DNA technology in law enforcement, we believe a situation like this is unlikely to be repeated. 

Commissioners unanimously approved the settlement agreement.  

MARCH 2019:

Nearly three years after a former Nevada woman filed a civil suit seeking compensation for spending more than three decades in prison for a murder she didn't commit, her lawyers say the city of Reno is continuing to do everything it can to delay and deny her justice.

The latest dispute over Cathy Woods' lawsuit centers on the city's insistence she travel from her home in Washington state to provide a deposition in Reno.

Woods' lawyers say she suffers from mental illness exacerbated by 35 years of wrongful imprisonment for a 1976 murder. They say she's too mentally fragile to make the trip and that the city's approach to the issue amounts to "stunning cruelty.

Her lawyer David Owens says the city appears to be arguing that the fact Woods was wrongfully convicted is her own fault.

The City of Reno declined to comment on the suit. (AP) 

ORIGINAL STORY: 

A woman who had her conviction overturned in the 1976 killing of a University of Nevada, Reno student has filed a lawsuit in federal court.

Cathy Woods is filing suit against several police officers, a district attorney and a physician.

The lawsuit claims that the former police officers coerced false statements from Woods who was accused of murdering 19-year-old college student Michelle Mitchell. A Marlboro cigarette butt was found near her body along with several burnt paper matches.  

On February 24, 1976, Mitchell disappeared after her VW Bug broke down near the University of Nevada. Her body was found hours later in a nearby residential garage.

Then three years later, Woods, a patient in the psychiatric ward of the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, told hospital staff she had murdered a 19-year-old girl named Michelle in a garage near the college in Reno. After being contacted by the hospital staff, Reno authorities went to Shreveport and interviewed Woods. She again claimed responsibility for the murder. 

Woods was convicted by jury of the murder in November of 1980. After the conviction was reversed by the Nevada Supreme Court, she was again convicted by jury of the murder in November of 1985. Both times, Woods was sentenced to serve life in prison.  

Woods filed a Post-Conviction Petition in 2010 requesting DNA examination of evidence. The Second Judicial District Court ordered the testing of physical evidence taken from the crime scene. The testing revealed no evidence of Cathy Woods' DNA. However, the cigarette butt from the garage near Mitchell's body contained an unknown male's DNA profile. The unknown male DNA profile matched a DNA profile from two unsolved California murder cases that occurred in January and February of 1976.  

In early July of 2014, there was a CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) match on the DNA profile from the unsolved California murder cases and matched Rodney Halbower's DNA profile. Halbower's DNA had recently been entered into the system when he was transferred from the Nevada Department of Corrections, after serving a sentence for an unrelated crime, to prison in Oregon. Halbower is now charged in the two unsolved murders from California. 

In September of 2014, Woods' conviction was vacated and a new trial was ordered. She was released on bail at that time. 

Woods’ attorney says she is longest-ever wrongfully incarcerated woman in U.S. history. 

(The Washoe County District Attorney's Office contributed to this report.)