On Wednesday, July 6, 2016, a federal jury awarded $28.1 million to six people known as the Beatrice Six who were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder of a southeast Nebraska woman in 1985. According to the information Viewers Corner News gathered, the six men (James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Thomas Winslow and Joseph White) were wrongfully convicted of murder of a 68-year-old Helen Wilson and served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing cleared them in 2008. This was made possible by Nebraska Supreme Court ruling in 2007 and they were the first people to have been cleared by DNA evidence. Through the DNA testing, it was discovered that Bruce Allen Smith (died in 1992) murdered Helen Wilson. According to report, James Dean and Kathleen Gonzalez will receive $2.2 million, Debra Shelden was awarded $1.8 million. Also Winslow, Taylor and the estate of Joseph White, who died in 2011, will receive $7.3 million each. This sharing was based on the number of years each of these men spent behind bars. Winslow, Taylor and White spent 20 years in prison while the others spent between five and six years in prison.
Source: Viewers Corner News.