This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

June 7, 2019BEATRICE, Ne. |  By: AP

Gage County begins payments to "Beatrice Six"

Gage County, Nebraska has made the first of several $1 million-plus payments to those wrongly convicted of a 1985 murder in Beatrice.

The first payment of $1.9 million was made this week to the so-called Beatrice Six, who were imprisoned for the murder 68-year-old Helen Wilson but exonerated by DNA evidence in 2008. Wilson's death has since been linked to a former Beatrice resident who died in 1992.

After they were cleared, the six sued the county, alleging that local law enforcement officials coerced false confessions and recklessly pursued the case. A jury awarded them a $28.1 million judgment, and federal courts upheld it.

Gage County officials say it could be nearly a decade before the entire judgment is paid. The county is relying on a half-cent sales tax and a maximum 50-cent property tax levy to help pay the judgment.