TOPEKA, Kan. _ Lamonte McIntyre, who served 23 years for murders he did not commit, will receive a certificate of innocence and $1.55 million as part of settlement of his mistaken conviction lawsuit, the Kansas Attorney General's office said in a news release.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Monday that an agreed resolution of the lawsuit had been reached and approved in Shawnee County District Court.
McIntyre, who is now in his 40s, was arrested at age 17 in 1994, tried and convicted of murdering Doniel Quinn, 21, and Donald Ewing, 34, who were killed with a shotgun as they sat in a car.
McIntyre was freed in October 2017 after Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree Sr. stopped contesting the facts of his innocence during a hearing on his exoneration.
In addition to the certificate of innocence and the monetary award, McIntyre will also receive counseling, two years of state health care benefits and a waiver of tuition for postsecondary education. Records of his arrest, convictions and DNA profile were ordered expunged.
The payment is subject to review by the state finance council. Schmidt said he has asked the council to review the matter promptly.
The resolution comes months after news emerged that McIntyre might have to wait months or even years to be compensated for his wrongful conviction. Schmidt's office had asked a judge to rule against McIntyre's effort to be paid under a 2018 Kansas law that provides compensation to those wrongfully convicted.
At the time, a spokesman for the office issued a statement saying the prior court record was insufficient for Schmidt to determine the requirements for payout had been met. Evaluating McIntyre's mistaken-conviction claim required more work, the spokesman said.
"In this case, our office worked diligently to obtain and review all available evidence, including evidence identified but not provided in the earlier judicial proceedings," Schmidt said in the release issued Monday. "We were ultimately able to resolve all issues, satisfy all of the statute's requirements, and agree to this outcome so Mr. McIntyre can receive the benefits to which he is entitled by law because of his mistaken conviction."
Soon after McIntyre's release, the state of Kansas passed a law to compensate people like McIntyre who were wrongly imprisoned. Then-Gov. Jeff Coyler signed the law at McIntyre's church.
Earlier this month during an interview with The Star just minutes after getting the unexpected news that a resolution had been reached, McIntyre said it was a big deal and that that hurdle in his life is finally behind him.
"I feel like I've finally, finally, finally been vindicated," McIntyre told The Star's Melinda Henneberger. "Freedom _ now I finally know what it's really like because the state has acknowledged the wrong that it did."
