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Judge: Pair wrongfully accused of murders should get $5M

Nicholas Sampson, Matthew Livers

This composite photo from April 26, 2006, provided by the Cass County Sheriff's Office, shows the arrest photos of Nicholas Sampson (left) and Matthew Livers, who were charged in the 2006 slayings of Wayne and Sharmon Stock in Murdock. The men spent months in jail before being cleared of murder charges.

Courtesy photo

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Lori Pilger | Lincoln Journal Star

A federal judge Wednesday ordered Douglas County's insurance carrier to pay $5 million to a pair wrongfully arrested for a Murdock couple's murder in 2006 after the county's crime lab chief planted evidence against them.

Nick Sampson and Matthew Livers will split the amount, the coverage limit on St. Paul Travelers Cos.'s policy that covered David Kofoed, when he planted evidence against them.

The two were arrested in the murders of Wayne and Sharmon Stock, Livers' aunt and uncle, at their Cass County farmhouse.

Livers, who has a learning disability, falsely confessed during a coercive interrogation, implicating himself and his cousin Sampson in the killings.

He recanted a day later.

But Sampson spent at least six months in jail before charges were dropped.

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DNA found on a ring at the Stocks' home ultimately led investigators to a young Wisconsin couple, Jessica Reid and Gregory Fester II, who killed the Stocks while traveling through the state on a crime spree.

They both are serving life sentences for it.

At a trial, prosecutors later alleged Kofoed had planted blood evidence in a car to bolster a case against Livers and Sampson.

Kofoed was convicted and went to prison for two years for evidence tampering.

Sampson and Livers sued him and the Nebraska law enforcement agencies and investigators who had tried to build the case against them.

They settled separately with state and county authorities for $2.6 million, leaving only the claims against Kofoed.

In 2013, U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon entered a $6.6 million judgment against him in the civil rights case, and Sampson's and Livers' attorneys filed garnishment claims against St. Paul Travelers Cos. in an effort to get the money.

Bataillon later determined the policy afforded coverage. But in his order Wednesday, the judge didn't award interest on the judgment, which would've added thousands.

Bataillon did award nearly $233,000 in attorney fees, despite attorneys for St. Paul arguing it would be premature, pending their coming appeal over the court's decision on coverage.

Within 14 days, attorneys for Sampson and Livers are to submit calculations for the proportionate share of the $5 million each should get.

And the court will enter an order directing the payment.

Attorneys on either side did not return messages Wednesday seeking comment on the decision.

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David Kofoed

Courtesy photo

Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.

On Twitter @LJSpilger.

Lori Pilger

Lori Pilger | Lincoln Journal Star

Courts reporter

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Nicholas Sampson, Matthew Livers

This composite photo from April 26, 2006, provided by the Cass County Sheriff's Office, shows the arrest photos of Nicholas Sampson (left) and Matthew Livers, who were charged in the 2006 slayings of Wayne and Sharmon Stock in Murdock. The men spent months in jail before being cleared of murder charges.

David Kofoed