KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The state of Kansas announced Wednesday that the lawsuit regarding Pete Coones’ mistaken conviction has been resolved.
Coones, spent 12 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder in December 2009. He died just months after being released.
His conviction was tossed out and all charges against Coones, whose legal name is Olin L. Coones, on Nov. 5, 2020.
“I never thought I was coming home," Coones told 41 Action News a week after he was released from prison. "I was sure hopeful. I prayed for it all of the time."
Coones sued the state under a 2018 statute that allows individuals wrongfully convicted in Kansas to seek compensation for damages.
Coones’ case is the fifth such case brought under the three-year-old law.
His family was granted $826,301.81 of total compensation. In addition, Coones was granted a Certificate of Innocence and records of his conviction and arrested were ordered to be expunged.
There are five pending cases in district courts in Kansas related to compensation for wrongful convictions, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office.
