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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A judge has ordered Louisiana to pay $180,000 to a New Orleans man who spent almost a decade behind bars wrongfully on a murder charge.

Criminal District Judge Arthur Hunter ruled the state must compensate Kia Stewart, whose conviction was tossed two years ago. Several witnesses came forward to offer alibis for Stewart and to pin the shooting on another man.

Stewart spent most of his sentence in Louisiana’s maximum-security prison at Angola.

The New Orleans Advocate reports the 30-year-old was freed in 2015, when a judge dismissed his conviction. However, Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office fought to prevent him from receiving a payout from the state’s fund for the exonerated.

Landry’s office has not said whether it will appeal.

“Our office is disappointed in the ruling, but we respect the court’s decision,” said Ruth Wisher, a spokeswoman for Landry. “We stand by the evidence we presented in this matter and are currently weighing our options to determine how to best proceed.”

Emily Maw, director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, said Hunter’s ruling was “long overdue.” Her group represented Stewart when he appealed his conviction.

“Kia’s young life was shattered by being arrested at 17 for a crime he didn’t commit,” Maw said. “That this practical help has been so long coming has made it much harder for him to overcome an obstacle that most of us would find insurmountable.”

Stewart will be paid $25,000 per year under state law. The judge’s ruling also permits Stewart to apply for an additional $80,000 in compensation for “loss of life opportunities.”

In winning the decision, Stewart overcame the high bar set by a state law that essentially reverses the burden of proof in criminal cases for those seeking compensation from the state. Beyond proving they were wrongfully convicted, former inmates must prove they were actually innocent of the underlying crime.

Hunter said Stewart’s lawyers had “proven that it is highly probable that he is factually innocent for the charge of second-degree murder.”

Hunter relied on the testimony of several witnesses who suggested that another man shot Bryant “B.J.” Craig to death on July 31, 2005.

The state’s sole witness at the trial said he was walking nearby when a man he identified as Stewart killed Craig. But in a series of post-conviction hearings, Stewart’s lawyers presented six witnesses who said another man, Antonio Barnes, was the killer. Five witnesses said

Barnes confessed to them. Four witnesses backed up Stewart’s alibi.

Barnes died during an attempted armed robbery in Houston in 2006.

Citing a lack of evidence, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office agreed to dismiss the case against Stewart in 2015. Criminal District Court Judge Darryl Derbigny ordered his release.

However, Landry’s office still fought to deny Stewart compensation for his time behind bars. It pointed to contradictions between statements that the alibi witnesses gave about where Stewart was when the shooting happened.

In a ruling last year, Hunter said Stewart’s attorneys still needed to produce more evidence to prove his actual innocence and invited them to try again. Landry’s office appealed that ruling. On Sept. 11, the state Supreme Court said Hunter had to decide with the evidence on hand.

Hunter said that in the end, he decided the alibi witnesses’ statements could be reconciled after all.

Patterson and North Vermilion went blow-for-blow until the fourth quarter when the Lumberjacks scored twice to upend the Patriots 28-21 in the District 8-3A opener for both teams.
North Vermilion (4-2, 0-1) scored first on the opening possession of the game, a five-play, 63 yard dri0ve that Creed Rudd capped on a 14-yard run with 9:25 remaining in the first quarter.
Patterson (3-3, 1-0) answered early in the second quarter when quarterback Dajon Richard hooked up with Ayden LeBlanc on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 9:52 left in the first half. Bryce Daigle’s point-after attempt tied the game at 7, which also was the halftime score.
“We didn’t play good in the first half and taking nothing from North Vermilion,” Patterson Coach Ryan Stewart said. “They’re a good team, but I had to get on my guys at halftime.”
Drew Lucas took the second-half kickoff into Patriots’ territory before Dontre Nicholas took a handoff and darted 49 yards for a touchdown. Patterson led 14-7 after Daigle’s point-after attempt with 11:15 remaining in the third quarter.
But the back-and-fourth affair continued when North Vermilion running back Malik Criner ripped off his own 49-yard scoring run with 8:45 remaining in the third to tie the game at 14. Criner had 188 yards on 21 carries with two touchdowns.
He added an 11 yard score with 5 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give North Vermilion a 21-14 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Patterson answered when Richard found Irving Celestine along sideline, and he raced 65 yards for the score with just 3:39 left in the game. However, ’Jacks’ kicker Bryce Daigle missed the point after kick, so North Vermilion clung to a 21-20 lead.
Patterson shocked North Vermilion with an onside kick that the ’Jacks recovered at North Vermilion’s 43 yard line.
Patterson marched down to the goal line, and Richard capped the drive and the win with a 1-yard touchdown run. Richard also added a two-point conversion for the 28-21 win.
Richard completed 5-of-10 passing for 139 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried 17 times for 112 yards and a score.
“I’m not happy with the play overall, but you can’t beat a W and a W is a W and that’s what we are going to go with,” Stewart said.
Nicholas was the ’Jacks’ leading rusher with 20 carries for 117 and a score.
Leading receivers were Nicholas with two catches for 43 yards while LeBlanc, Lucas and Celestine had one catch each. LeBlanc’s and Celestine’s both were touchdown receptions.
Patterson totaled 395 yards (139 passing and 256 rushing), while North Vermilion had 256 total yards (71 passing and 185 rushing).
Patterson will continue district play Friday, traveling to Abbeville (2-4, 0-1).

NEW YORK — Chris Cyr doesn’t like much about the big and tall clothes he finds in stores: They’re “not very adventurous,” he said, and the fit can be too baggy. And then there’s the array of odd prints: “A lot of Hawaiian shirts with sailboats and golf balls tend to pop in.”
But the standup comic from St. Louis said he is finding more fashionable threads for bigger guys online, as a crop of internet retailers are finally catering to the long-ignored group. The companies are making larger sizes of slim-cut jeans, bomber jackets and other trendy clothes that shoppers say are hard to find elsewhere.
Bigger-sized models are used when designing the clothes, which the companies say helps make sure the proportions are right. Rather than just making a pair of jeans larger, for example, they also adjust the back pockets and other details.
Asos, the hip online clothing seller, launched a line for plus-sized men late last year. MVP Collections, founded a year ago, sells velour hoodies in sizes up to 6XL and motorcycle jeans that go up to a size 54. And The Winston Box, which calls itself a clothing subscription service “for guys with some junk in the trunk,” sends up to four items a month to members.
“There’s a lot more options,” said Cyr. He pays $75 a month for The Winston Box, and said the 3XL shirts he receives fit better than what he finds elsewhere. He also recently bought a blazer from Asos that he wears to his standup shows.
Men have long had big-and-tall shops to turn to, but young shoppers say they don’t find the trendy clothes they crave there. Kyle Gammon, a college fashion student who lives near Savannah, Georgia, said Asos has become his go-to after he discovered its plus-size line earlier this year. While fit can sometimes be a question for anyone buying online, Gammon has bought a couple of print shirts from the site. He likes the way they fit, giving him just enough room around his midsection without a lot of extra fabric in the arms. He’s also a fan of the colors and styles the site offers.
“They have a really good variety,” said Gammon, “which I’m not used to getting.”
Former baseball player Mo Vaughn, who co-founded MVP Collections, said he could find T-shirts and suits in his size in stores, but nothing in between. Now his company sells items such as gray sport jackets and deconstructed jeans made with a bit of spandex for stretch.
“Why can’t we be fly like everybody else?” Vaughn said.
Daniel Franzese, an actor who starred in “Mean Girls,” joined The Winston Box as creative director earlier this year after seeing an ad for the company on Facebook. He said stylists often had trouble finding clothes for him to wear for TV roles or for red carpet events.
“Fashion forgets about the bigger male,” Franzese said.
That’s still generally true, even with the new options. Several market research firms said they didn’t track or have estimates of the value of the men’s big-and-tall clothing market. And startups say that to promote their brands, they go to conventions and events around the country aimed at curvy or plus-size women — because there aren’t any for big men.
Diana Smith, a retail and apparel analyst at research group Mintel, expects that to change. She said the high obesity rate, plus an increase in the number of men who care about how they dress, will increase the demand for big-sized men’s clothing. She said the success of women’s plus-size clothing, which according to NPD Group had sales of $20.6 billion in the last year, also helps.
“There’s a lot of buying power there,” said Smith.
At Asos, it was the positive feedback from its women’s plus-size line launched about eight years ago that pushed the company to create one for men, said head designer Nick Eley. Asos said about 15 percent of its men’s line is now available in bigger sizes, and it expects to increase that percentage. About 30 brands, such as Puma and Tommy Hilfiger, also make big and tall sizes for the site.
“I honestly don’t know why it’s been a forgotten market for so long,” said Eley.