Wrongly convicted Las Vegas man, 83, paid $2 million for his 20 years in prison
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A Las Vegas man who spent 20 years in prison after two incorrect convictions was awarded $2 million and a certificate of innocence Tuesday.
Frank LaPena, 83, will receive $1,980,900 from the state of Nevada, the state’s attorney general announced in a .
“No amount of money can ever replace our freedom, but with this decision, Mr. LaPena will receive some redress for the years he has lost,” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in the release.
LaPena and his ex-girlfriend were suspects in the 1974 murder of Hilda Krause at a Las Vegas casino. LaPena was the chief bellhop at the Hacienda resort; Krause was the wife of casino magnate Marvin Krause.
A jury first convicted LaPena in 1977, starting a winding legal battle that led to multiple overturns and eventually a second conviction. In one twist, the real killer, Gerald Weakland, told the cops LaPena did hired him for the job, then changed his story on the stand, then changed it back at a second trial.
In a later turn, LaPena came back from Mexico and surrendered to police after hearing his case was overturned and he’d been ordered back to prison, infamous Vegas mob lawyer (and former mayor) Oscar Goodman told Thrillist in 2017.
LaPena was finally exonerated in 2019.
