Kansas is dropping its fight against the compensation claim from a man who spent 23 years in prison for a double homicide. A judge in 2017 vacated Lamonte McIntyre's convictions, which had been secured even though no physical evidence or motive tied him to the crimes.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Tuesday that his office decided to drop its fight after reviewing 900 pages of documents from McIntyre's attorney that had not been provided to it previously. He also says an ongoing Kansas Bureau of Investigation review of the 1994 crimes for which McIntyre was charged turned up new information.

“Since Mr. McIntyre filed his lawsuit in Shawnee County last March, we have worked diligently to obtain and review all available evidence, including evidence not provided in the earlier judicial proceedings,” Schmidt said. “We are now able to tell the court we have reviewed all evidence we know to be available, completed our due diligence in evaluating that evidence, and agree that Mr. McIntyre is able to show he has met the statutory requirements for compensation under the new law.”

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