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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
First Degree Murder |
Sentence: |
Life Imprisonment |
Years Imprisoned: |
12 |
Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
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Year Cleared: |
2020 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Kansas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Wyandotte |
City of Crime: |
Kansas City |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Olin L. Coones aka Pete Coones, was wrongly convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Carl Schroll, 64, and his wife, Kathleen Schroll, 45, in their Kansas City, Kansas home in April 2008. Olin Coones prosecution was largely based on the testimony of a jailhouse informant. (The informant had a history that included at least 15 crimes of dishonesty, such as theft and burglary.) Based on new evidence the shootings were a murder-suicide, Coones conviction was vacated on November 5, 2020, and he was released after 12 years in custody. In November 2020 Coones filed a lawsuit under Kansas' wrongly imprisonment compensation statute. Coones died from cancer on Feb. 21, 2021, 108 days after being released from prison. On June 2, 2021 a settlement was approved by a district judge to pay Coones' estate $826,301. Coones’ lawsuit was the fifth filed under the states’ wrongful conviction statute to be resolved since it took effect in December 2018." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
"$826,301 (State of Kansas, 6-2-2021)" |
Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
50 |
Age When Released: |
64 |
Sex: |
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Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Kansas ordered to pay settlement to estate of Pete Coones, wrongly convicted of murder, By Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, June 2, 2021" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article251844443.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Judge vacates murder conviction of KCK man who says he was framed in murder-suicide, Kansas City Star, November 5, 2020" |
Information Location 2: |
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Information Source 3: |
"Pete Coones, exonerated in Kansas City, Kansas, murder, dies after 108 days of freedom, Kansas City Star, February 21, 2020" |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org