Kansas wrongful conviction lawsuit reaches $12.5M settlement

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – A local government in Kansas has agreed to pay $12.5 million to a man and his mother after he spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, approved the settlement Thursday.

The government said in a statement Friday that it admits no guilt in the wrongful conviction and two life sentences of Lamonte McIntyre in the mid 1990s.

McIntyre was freed in 2017 after a prosecutor asked the court to vacate his convictions and drop all charges.

The following year, McIntyre and his mother sued the unified government, saying it was responsible for the actions of former police detective and others they accuse of framing McIntyre.