LOS ANGELES – Maurice Hastings, an innocent man who spent nearly four decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit, has been awarded $25 million in what legal experts say is the largest wrongful conviction settlement in California history. The settlement, finalized in August, marks the end of a decades-long legal battle to prove his innocence.

Story Highlights

• Maurice Hastings spent 38 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

• California awards $25 million, marking its largest wrongful conviction settlement.

• DNA evidence proved Hastings’ innocence; conviction vacated in 2022.

• Real perpetrator Kenneth Packnett matched DNA evidence; died in prison in 2020.

• Hastings now lives in Southern California, active in church and community.

Hastings, now 72, was convicted in 1983 for the sexual assault and murder of Roberta Wydermyer, who was killed by a single gunshot to the head. He received a life sentence without parole. The lawsuit filed on his behalf accused two Inglewood police officers and a Los Angeles district attorney investigator of framing Hastings, highlighting serious concerns about misconduct in the case.

“No amount of money could ever restore the 38 years of my life that were stolen from me,” Hastings said in a statement. “But this settlement is a welcome end to a very long road, and I look forward to moving on with my life.”

Lawyers for the defendants and a spokesperson for the city of Inglewood declined to comment. The settlement’s finer details remain confidential, but it underscores the legal and financial consequences of wrongful convictions for law enforcement agencies.

Hastings fought for decades to prove his innocence. At the time of Wydermyer’s autopsy, DNA and body fluid samples were collected from the victim, but requests for testing were denied by the district attorney’s office in 2000. In 2021, Hastings submitted a claim to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit, which allowed for modern DNA testing.

The results revealed that the DNA from the crime scene did not match Hastings. “It was the proof we needed to finally clear my name,” Hastings said. In 2022, prosecutors requested that his conviction be vacated, and in 2023, a California judge formally ruled that Hastings was “factually innocent.”

The DNA evidence instead matched Kenneth Packnett, a man previously convicted of a violent kidnapping and sexual assault case with chilling similarities to Wydermyer’s murder. Packnett had been arrested weeks after the 1983 murder for an unrelated crime, and investigators found jewelry and a coin purse that belonged to Wydermyer. Packnett was never investigated for the murder at the time and died in prison in 2020 while serving another sentence.

Hastings now lives in Southern California, where he is active in his church and community. “Police departments throughout California and across the country should take notice that there is a steep price to pay for allowing such egregious misconduct on their watch,” said Nick Brustin, Hastings’ attorney.

The case highlights ongoing concerns about wrongful convictions in California and nationwide, as well as the critical role of DNA testing and conviction integrity units in correcting miscarriages of justice.

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