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214 ePilogue epilogue in October 2013, Matt livers and Nick Sampson, the two Nebraska cousins who were wrongly accused of murdering Wayne and Sharmon Stock, reached a staggering $2.6 million out-of-court settlement to resolve their federal lawsuits. as part of that total, cass county agreed to pay livers and Sampson about $1.5 million. The state of Nebraska agreed to pay them $975,000. Douglas county government paid another $125,000. “i’ll never forget what happened. i kind of want to forget about it and move forward, but it’s scarred me for life,” livers told me in November 2013. livers received a payout of $1.65 million: about $1 million from cass county, $600,000fromtheNebraskaStatePatrol,and$50,000fromDouglascounty. Reflecting on the case, Locke Bowman, the civil attorney for Livers, noted that none of the key investigators from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol were properly trained to identify the warning signs of false confessions. “This is just a horrible, horrible example of how tunnel vision can absolutely ruin an investigation,” Bowman told me in November 2013. “The problem is they committed to Matt livers on april 18 [the day after the murders]. When the police are refusing to accept the repeated denials of guilt from someone who is mentally challenged, you’re crying out for a mistake. . . . it’s absolutely one of the worst confessions on record. Matt answers ‘right’ to all of investigator Schenck’s questions because he has no idea what he’s supposed to say. . . . When the DNa results were negative on livers and Nick Sampson, they were already down the road and not turning back then.” Bowman hopes the videotaped interrogation of his client’s false confession to murdering the Stocks will someday become an important training tool at law enforcement academies and police departments across the country. “This video is an instructional gold mine that should be made use of,” Bowman told me. “People should look at this and discuss what went wrong and what should be done differently.” 214 ePilogue 215 less than a year after double murder charges against him were dismissed, Matt livers and his sweetheart, Sarah Schneider, got married and relocated to cypress, Texas, which is near Houston. Matt’s parents, Barbara and Dave, also live nearby. livers said that Bowman did a fantastic job on his case. “i almost feel like we’ve become family after six years of working on this,” livers told me in November 2013. He said he’s also grateful to his original public defenders, Julie Bear of Plattsmouth and co-counsel Susan M. Bazis, plus forensic psychiatrist Scott Bresler and Jerry Soucie, Nick Sampson’s public defender, for helping prove his innocence as he awaited his jury trial. SincereturningtoTexasin2008,liversworkedasanoilandlubetechnician at a car dealership in Houston. Then for much of 2013, he drove a semitrailer across the country for Schneider National trucking. His deliveries took him to Florida, Ohio, North carolina, and South carolina. “You could say that it’s something that i can mark off my bucket list,” livers told me. “But being a truckdriver,itwasjusttoohardtobeawayfrom[mywife]Sarahand[stepson] Brandon.” livers, who is now thirty-six, said he became a tire and lube technician in November 2013 at a Walmart store in the Houston suburb of Tomball. However, the murders have changed the course of his life. Many of his relatives back in Nebraska refuse to have anything to do with him, livers told me. He said that they won’t accept that they were absolutely wrong when they fingered him as the Stocks’ killer from the very beginning of the case. “Sarah and i still wonder why they can’t let it go, more or less,” livers told me. “They won’t give me the time of day. Being a christian, if i want to get to heaven, i need to forgive and forget. i’ve forgiven them.” livers advised that anyone who is approached by police for questioning in a murder case should first consult with a criminal defense attorney. “My thinking was i didn’t need to hire a lawyer,” livers told me. “i was there [at the Cass County Sheriff’s Office] to clear my name. Sarah and my dad advised me to do that, thinking i would only be gone for a couple of hours. My God, look how that turned out for Nick [Sampson] and for me. eight-and-a-half months later, I finally got to go home...

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