BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Gage County is appealing a $28.1 million civil judgment it faces in a lawsuit filed by six people who were wrongly convicted of the 1985 rape and homicide of a Beatrice woman.

The county is asking the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case and block the verdict a federal judge issued this summer.

The appeal should also buy more time for Gage County officials to come up with a plan to raise the money if the judgment is upheld.

Attorney Jennifer Tomka says the county can’t easily pay the judgment if it is affirmed.

The six people who sued spent a combined 77 years in prison in the death of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before DNA testing cleared them in 2008.