Richard Lapointe’s family is set to receive nearly $6 million for his wrongful incarceration of nearly 25 years for the 1987 rape and murder of his wife’s grandmother—acts he did not commit. In 1996, following a direct appeal, LaPointe’s conviction was affirmed in a decision (5-2) that held the state does not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt—rather than by a mere preponderance of the evidence—that an admission or a confession obtained by the police through an interrogation was not coerced. State v. Lapointe, 237 Conn. 694.

Then, after several habeas corpus petitions, in 2015, the Connecticut Supreme Court determined (5-1-2) that Lapointe was entitled to a new trial because his first habeas counsel’s representation had been constitutionally deficient in that he had failed to establish that the state had withheld certain exculpatory evidence prior to trial in violation of Brady v. Maryland, the disclosure of which would have supported an alibi defense. Lapointe v. Commissioner of Correction, 316 Conn. 225. Ultimately, following new DNA evidence, charges were dismissed and Lapointe was exonerated. He was released from prison, and soon thereafter Lapointe began to suffer from dementia and he ultimately died from COVID.