A man has received a substantial compensation in what his legal representatives are calling the “largest wrongful conviction settlement in state history.”
Maurice Hastings, aged 72, was wrongly found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1983 sexual assault and murder of Roberta Wydermyer, who died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Allegations were made against two officers from the Inglewood Police Department and an investigator from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office for framing Hastings.
Throughout the years, Hastings consistently asserted his innocence, leading to a lengthy legal battle.
After spending 38 years in a California prison, Hastings has now been granted $25 million. The settlement was finalized in August, with court papers disclosing the specifics on Monday.
Expressing his thoughts, Hastings stated, “No amount of money can ever fully compensate for the 38 years of my life that were unjustly taken from me. However, this settlement marks the end of a lengthy journey, and I am eager to move forward with my life.”
Details regarding the settlement terms are confidential, as reported by the Mirror US.
During the victim’s autopsy, a sexual assault examination was conducted, and biological samples from the perpetrator were collected, according to the district attorney’s office.
Hastings requested DNA analysis of the evidence in 2000, but the request was denied by the DA’s office. In 2021, Hastings submitted a claim of innocence to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit. Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the semen did not belong to Hastings.
In 2022, at the age of 69, Hastings’ conviction was overturned at the request of prosecutors and his legal team. The DNA evidence matched an individual previously convicted of a separate armed kidnapping and rape case resembling Wydermyer’s murder.
The suspect, Kenneth Packnett, was arrested within three weeks of the 1983 murder for an unrelated car theft, Hastings’ lawyers disclosed.
Although jewelry and a coin purse matching Wydermyer’s possessions at the time of her murder were found in Packnett’s possession, he was not investigated for her murder back then.
Prosecutors confirmed that Packnett passed away in 2020 while serving a separate sentence. In 2023, a California judge declared Hastings as “factually innocent.”
Presently residing in Southern California, Hastings is actively involved in his church, as per his legal representatives.
Nick Brustin, a lawyer for Hastings, warned that police departments nationwide should take note of the severe consequences for allowing such severe misconduct under their jurisdiction.