GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Brothers David and Robert Bintz have filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages for wrongful convictions that led them to spend nearly 25 years in prison, according to court records.
The federal civil lawsuit was filed Monday and seeks damages tied to the 1987 rape and murder of Sandra Lison in Green Bay.
The suit names former Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Richard Luell, former Green Bay Police Department detective Robert Haglund and the city of Green Bay as defendants.
The brothers allege authorities violated their constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment protections.
According to the complaint, investigators fabricated witness statements, withheld exculpatory evidence and coerced a false confession from David Bintz.
The complaint alleges David Bintz’s confession was obtained after hours of interrogation, denial of food, water and restroom access, as well as the presentation of fabricated witness claims. The confession was reportedly not audio or video-recorded.
The lawsuit also alleges forensic testing at the time excluded both brothers from biological evidence recovered from the victim, but prosecutors relied on the alleged false confession and fabricated testimony at trial.
David and Robert Bintz were convicted in 2000 in connection with Lison’s killing and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2019, the Great North Innocence Project began working to prove the brothers’ innocence. In 2023, the organization partnered with Ramapo College to analyze evidence using investigative genetic genealogy.
Within two days, a team of six students identified now-deceased William Hendricks as a potential suspect. Court records state Hendricks had a violent criminal history.
Using public genealogy databases, investigators identified genetic connections through Hendricks’ relatives. Hendricks’ body was later exhumed and tested, and investigators found a DNA match.
The Bintz brothers were released from prison in September 2024 after their convictions were vacated.
Last year, the brothers were each awarded $25,000 from the Wisconsin Claims Board, the maximum amount allowed under state law.
