LINCOLN, Neb., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Nebraska authorities say they have agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by two men wrongly charged in a 2006 double murder.
The suit by Matthew Livers and Nicholas Sampson alleged investigators for sheriff's departments in Cass and Douglas counties and the Nebraska State Patrol coerced confessions and planted DNA evidence, The Omaha World-Herald reported Monday.
Livers agreed to a settlement of $1.65 million. Sampson will get $965,000. Both men spent several months in jail before two Wisconsin teenagers confessed to the killings.
Livers, who is intellectually challenged, confessed he and Sampson, his cousin, committed the killings after more than 11 hours of interrogation. He later said he lied to end the investigation.
Video of the interrogation shows deputies threatening Livers with the death penalty and feeding him information about the crime, said Locke Bowman, an attorney who represented Livers.
The defendants admitted no wrongdoing or liability in agreeing to the settlement, said Kim Sturzenegger, an attorney who represented Cass County.
