Cathy Woods, right, who has been imprisoned for more than 30 years, looks to the deputy sheriff in Washoe District court in Reno, Nev. on Sept. 8, 2014, where she was granted a new trial based on recently evaluated DNA evidence that her lawyer said ties an Oregon prison inmate to the 1976 slaying of a Reno student and two killings in California. (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron) NO SALES; NEVADA APPEAL OUT; SOUTH RENO WEEKLY OUT
68-Year-Old Cathy Woods spent 35 years in jail for a murder she never committed, and after being wrongfully convicted, the government has awarded her $3 million in compensation.
Cathy Woods was found guilty of the 1976 murder of 19-year-old Michelle Mitchell, she was sentenced in jail in 1980 but was released in 2015 after the DNA on a cigarette butt that was found at the scene belonged to Rodney Halbower.
Elizabeth Wang, the lawyer of Cathy Woods, “no amount of money will compensate Ms. Woods for what she endured, this will go at least some way toward providing care for her.”
Maizie Pusich, the public defender of the Washoe County, said Cathy Woods did not remember confessing the murder.
Maizie said, “I’m told it was a product of wanting to get a private room. She was being told she wasn’t sufficiently dangerous to qualify, and within a short period she was claiming she had killed a woman in Reno.”
The Washoe County apologized for wrongfully convicting Cathy Woods and for the loss of her freedom.
A statement was released, and it said, “The conviction and subsequent incarceration of Woods for murder is a tragic situation that Washoe County hopes is never repeated. While money can rarely compensate an individual for loss of freedom, Washoe County sincerely hopes that this monetary settlement will be utilized for the best possible care of Woods.”
Cathy now lives with her relatives in Washington and is no longer the longest wrongfully incarcerated woman in US history.