Latest news with #exoneration
ABC News
07-08-2025
- ABC News
Kathleen Folbigg's $2m compensation for jailing 'unjust', lawyer says
Kathleen Folbigg's solicitor says a $2 million payout from the NSW government is "profoundly unfair and unjust" after spending 20 years in prison. Attorney-General Michael Daley granted a compensation payment to Ms Folbigg, who was exonerated of killing her four children after spending two decades in jail for their deaths.
ABC News
07-08-2025
- ABC News
NSW attorney-general approves compensation payment to Kathleen Folbigg after release from prison
The New South Wales attorney-general has granted a compensation payment to Kathleen Folbigg, who was exonerated of killing her four children after spending two decades in jail for their deaths. Ms Folbigg was convicted in 2003 of killing her four children between 1989 and 1999. Following a seven-week trial, a jury found Ms Folbigg guilty of the murders of Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and the manslaughter of Caleb. In 2023 Ms Folbigg's convictions were quashed and in 2024 she applied for a compensation payment. The state government said it had agreed to a request from Ms Folbigg to not publicly discuss the details of the compensation decision.
ABC News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Kathleen Folbigg still fighting for compensation after being exonerated of killing her children
A woman exonerated of killing her four children after spending two decades in jail for their deaths says her "life is still on hold" as she seeks compensation from the New South Wales government. Once labelled Australia's worst serial killer, Kathleen Folbigg had her convictions quashed in 2023 and was released from prison. In 2003 she was convicted over the deaths of her children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, who were toddlers or babies when they died between 1989 and 1999 in the Hunter region. Ms Folbigg said she wanted the compensation matter resolved as soon as possible. "I'm not asking to be treated any differently than anyone else who's been put through what I have," she said in statement. "I just need this to be resolved so I can begin to rebuild and move forward. "Adjusting to 2025 prices has been confronting. "Even basics like groceries, bills and public transport are so much higher than they were in 2003. Ms Folbigg's lawyer Rhanee Rego told ABC Radio Newcastle an application for an ex gratia payment was made in July last year but there had not been any progress. "During that whole time I've been asking them, 'What are you doing?' When can we expect an answer?' And all they tell me is that it's 'under active consideration'," Ms Rego said. Ms Rego said Ms Folbigg had recently secured a rental home after two years. "She was struggling a bit there, and every time she feels hopeful that something will be done she's shut down," Ms Rego said. "It's just really, really disheartening." Ms Rego said she and Ms Folbigg had asked to meet with Premier Chris Minns, but on Monday morning he publicly denied that request and said the matter was before Attorney-General Michael Daley. "They're in the process of demanding money from the NSW government," Mr Minns said. "That's being independently assessed by the attorney-general and I don't think it's appropriate that I have meetings before he makes a decision. "I respect his call in relation to her commutation … but he's got another decision to make. A spokesperson for Mr Daley said the application for the ex gratia payment was being considered. "The NSW government acknowledges concerns about the time taken to consider Ms Folbigg's application, which contains complex material," they said in a statement. "It is important this material is thoroughly considered before a decision is made." The spokesperson said there had been extensive communication between the Department of Communities and Justice and Ms Folbigg's team. "Ms Folbigg's legal representation has been advised it would not be appropriate for the attorney-general to meet her while the ex gratia payment remains under consideration," they said.
Washington Post
10-07-2025
- Washington Post
2 men cleared in 1994 killing that sent them to prison for decades. New DNA tests cast doubt
NEW YORK — Two men who went to prison as teenagers for a 1994 killing were exonerated Thursday, after prosecutors said new DNA testing and a fresh look at other evidence made it impossible to stand by the convictions. Brian Boles and Charles Collins served decades behind bars before they were paroled; Collins in 2017 and Boles just last year. They're now free of the cloud of their convictions in the death of James Reid, an octogenarian who was attacked in his Harlem apartment. A judge scrapped the convictions and the underlying charges.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- The Independent
2 men cleared in 1994 killing that sent them to prison for decades. New DNA tests cast doubt
Two men who went to prison as teenagers for a 1994 killing were exonerated Thursday, after prosecutors said new DNA testing and a fresh look at other evidence made it impossible to stand by the convictions. Brian Boles and Charles Collins served decades behind bars before they were paroled; Collins in 2017 and Boles just last year. They're now free of the cloud of their convictions in the death of James Reid, an octogenarian who was attacked in his Harlem apartment. A judge scrapped the convictions and the underlying charges. Boles "lost three decades of his life for a crime he had nothing to do with,' said his lawyer Jane Pucher, who works with the Innocence Project. Collins' lead lawyer, Christopher Conniff, said Thursday's court action righted 'a terrible injustice.' 'While today's order cannot return to him the 20-plus years he spent in prison, he is happy that his name is finally cleared,' said Conniff, who's with the firm Ropes & Gray. A message was sent Thursday to a possible relative of Reid's to seek comment on the developments. A maintenance worker found Reid, 85, beaten and apparently strangled with a telephone cord, after noticing the man's apartment door was open, according to a New York Times report at the time. The apartment had been ransacked, according to the newspaper. Boles lived in the same building, and Collins was staying with him. The teens came under suspicion after they were arrested in a robbery about a week later. Collins and Boles gave confessions that their lawyers say were false and prompted by heavy-handed and threatening police interrogations. Boles recanted his admission before his trial, but he was convicted of murder; Collins subsequently pleaded guilty. Both were 17. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg 's office now says the purported confessions were contradicted by witness statements indicating Reid was alive hours after the teens claimed he had been killed. The men's trial lawyers and courts never got to see those statements. Nor were they given a lab report that undermined a detective's testimony linking Collins to a footprint found at the crime scene. Bragg, a Democrat who wasn't in office at the time, demurred Thursday when asked about officers' conduct, instead faulting 'the systems that were in place decades ago.' All the police and prosecutors who worked on the case likely retired or changed jobs years ago. While these old pieces of evidence proved to be problematic, new technology blew another hole in the case when prosecutors and defense lawyers reinvestigated it. A new round of DNA testing, using techniques unavailable in the 1990s, found that genetic material on Reid's fingernails didn't match Boles or Collins. It's not clear whose DNA it is, and Bragg said for technical reasons, the sample can't be fed into law enforcement databases to search broadly for a match there. But it could prove very helpful if a lead is developed in some other way, he said, urging anyone with any information to come forward. 'The injustice had many dimensions,' Bragg said. 'Mr. Boles and Mr. Collins — decades in prison. And a family that does not have closure. And a society that has someone at large amongst us for decades for a homicide that remains unsolved.' Boles, 48, took college classes in prison, earned a sociology degree this May and is building a career in working with marginalized people, his lawyers said. Lawyers for Collins, 49, didn't shed light on his pursuits.
