A Smithville woman who says a pair of detectives in Clay County coerced her into falsely confessing she murdered her fiancé in 2020 has filed a lawsuit over their investigation, which led to a lengthy criminal prosecution.
Clay County prosecutors used the confession to charge Lori Ackerman with second-degree murder in the death of Shannon Tate in December 2020. She spent more than a year in jail before she was released on bond, the lawsuit said.
At her trial in April 2024, Ackerman’s defense centered on evidence about false confessions. A jury acquitted her after deliberating for less than two hours…