SYRACUSE (AP) - A state court has found New York liable for its malicious prosecution of a woman framed by state police investigating her son for a quadruple murder.

Shirley Kinge was convicted in 1990 of helping her son, Michael Kinge, set a fire to cover up the December 1989 slayings of Warren and Dolores Harris and their two children in Dryden. Troopers killed Michael Kinge in a shootout in February 1990.

The charges against Shirley Kinge, who had admitted using the Harrises' stolen credit cards, were dropped after state police investigator David Harding admitted planting her fingerprints on a gasoline can at the Harris home.

In a ruling made public Tuesday, Court of Claims Judge Hon. Nicholas Midey Jr. found Kinge the victim of malicious prosecution and negligent supervision of the investigator who planted the phony evidence.

Midey wrote that Senior Investigator David McElligott turned a blind eye on the situation, giving Harding the opportunity to plant evidence and provide false testimony.

McElligott was forced to retire because of the evidence-tampering scandal. Harding spent four years in prison for faking evidence in Kinge's case and three others.

A separate trial will determine the amount of damages to be awarded to Kinge, now 72 and living in Atlanta.

The Court of Claims ruling said Kinge "should be ashamed of her criminal conduct" for using the stolen credit cards, but that "such criminal conduct cannot be used as a shield by the State Police to either justify or excuse their actions."

Kinge's attorney, Russell Maines, called the ruling "correct and fair."

Glenn Valle, chief counsel to the New York State Police, said in a statement Tuesday, "We are studying the court's decision to determine whether it was appropriate to find the State of New York liable due to the failure of Harding's supervisor to discover his crime."