Gage County, Neb., has hired a law firm that offers bankruptcy services as the county struggles to deal with a $28.1 million judgment awarded to six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder, the Associated Press reported on Friday. County officials signed contracts Wednesday with Lincoln-based Woods & Aitken and two other law firms providing legal services. Bankruptcy has been among the scenarios county leaders have been forced to consider as they appeal the judgment won in July by the so-called Beatrice Six inmates, who spent a combined 77 years in prison in the 1985 death of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before DNA testing cleared them in 2008. The county’s current and former insurers have denied coverage, and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said last week that the state couldn’t lend the county money because the damages were awarded in a federal lawsuit. The county has appealed the judgment, arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence to find against the county and law enforcement officials and saying the award was too high. A federal judge rejected the appeal in September. The county has since appealed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
