Connecticut is ready to pay almost $5.9 million to the household of a disabled man who was wrongly imprisoned for greater than twenty years earlier than he was freed in 2015 when his 1992 conviction within the homicide and rape of an 88-year-old grandmother was overturned.
Richard Lapointe, who died at age 74 in 2020, had Dandy-Walker syndrome, a uncommon congenital mind malformation that his legal professionals say was a think about his false confession. Lapointe was by no means declared harmless, however his legal professionals and the state legal professional normal’s workplace finally agreed to settle after years of authorized battles.
The state claims commissioner’s workplace on Jan. 2 set the cash to be awarded to the household, though it nonetheless must be accepted by the legislature. The claims commissioner’s workplace determines whether or not folks can file lawsuits in opposition to the state or obtain cash beneath the state’s wrongful incarceration regulation.
Claims Commissioner Robert Shea Jr. stated his workplace agreed that the award is “reasonable and appropriate.”
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On this April 10, 2015, picture, Richard Lapointe, middle, raises his arms with Kate Germond, left, and Paul Casteleiro, each of Centurion Ministries, after he was granted bail and launched on the Connecticut Supreme Court docket in Hartford, Connecticut. (AP)
Lapointe’s legal professional, Paul Casteleiro, stated the award is “a recognition by the state of the wrong it committed in prosecuting and imprisoning an innocent man. Sadly, Richard did not live long enough to witness his final vindication.”
“The award is by no means adequate compensation for what was done to Richard Lapointe,” Casteleiro stated Friday, including that the state destroyed his shopper’s life “for a crime he did not commit.”
The legal professional normal’s workplace stated in a press release Friday that it “negotiated a resolution of this claim in the interests of all parties. This reflects that process.”
In 1987, Lapointe’s spouse’s grandmother, Bernice Martin, was discovered stabbed, raped and strangled in her burning condo in Manchester, Connecticut.
Lapointe was convicted in Martin’s homicide in 1992 and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of launch. Key proof within the case included Lapointe’s confessions throughout an almost 10-hour interrogation by Manchester police.
His legal professionals argued his psychological incapacity attributed to him giving false confessions and that the confession was coerced with out his legal professionals current.
Lapointe was convicted of homicide in 1992 and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of launch. (iStock)
The state Supreme Court docket dominated 4-2 in a 2015 determination that Lapointe was disadvantaged of a good trial since prosecutors didn’t disclose notes by a police officer which will have supported an alibi protection. Later that yr, prosecutors stated new DNA testing didn’t implicate Lapointe and all the costs have been dropped.
No one else has been charged in Martin’s killing.
Lapointe was launched from custody a short while later and exited the Hartford courthouse carrying a black T-shirt that learn “I didn’t do it” as he threw his palms into the air in triumph.
“Of course I didn’t do it,” Lapointe stated on the time. “That wasn’t me. I wouldn’t do nothing like that to nobody. I wouldn’t even kill my worst enemy.”
Casteleiro stated the case in opposition to Lapointe destroyed his household, who shunned him.
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The state Supreme Court docket dominated 4-2 in a 2015 determination that Lapointe was disadvantaged of a good trial. (iStock)
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Earlier than Martin’s loss of life, Lapointe and his spouse, who has cerebral palsy, “were making a life together. They were doing okay,” Casteleiro stated. However after his arrest, his spouse divorced him, and he misplaced all contact together with his son, who was younger on the time.
After his launch from jail, Lapointe started affected by dementia, was positioned in a nursing house in East Hartford and died after a battle with COVID-19, based on his legal professionals.
Lapointe has been supported by a number of advocates, together with the teams Mates of Richard Lapointe and Centurion, a company Casteleiro works for that helps the wrongly convicted.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
