Los Angeles man wrongly sentenced to 38 years found not guilty

A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder he did not commit was found not guilty by a court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Maurice Hastings was released from prison last year after long-unverified DNA evidence pointed to another suspect. In October, a judge overturned Hastings’ conviction at the request of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and his attorneys at the Los Angeles Innocence Project.

Prosecutors and Hastings’ lawyers returned to court to ask Judge William S. Ryan to take the extra step of finding him not guilty of a murder committed 40 years ago.

The judge’s Wednesday declaring Hastings “virtually innocent” means the evidence conclusively proves Hastings did not commit the crime.

“It means a lot. I am grateful to the judge for the decision and apology – everything was great today,” Hastings said after the hearing, according to the Los Angeles Innocence Project. “I am ready to move on. Today I am a happy person.”

District Attorney George Gascon said Hastings had “had a nightmare”.

“He spent nearly four decades in prison, exhausting every avenue to prove his innocence while being repeatedly denied,” Gascon said in a statement. “But Mr. Hastings remained steadfast and true that one day he would hear the judge declare him innocent.”

Gascon said the decision would clear Hastings’ name and pave the way for him to receive possible help for his wrongful conviction.

When Hastings was released in October, Gascon said: “The system has failed you. The system has failed the victims,” ​​according to CBS Los Angeles.

The radio station said that, after announcing on Tuesday that his office would join Hastings in Wednesday’s hearing, Gascon praised Hastings for his “character” and “commitment” to his innocence, saying he had spoken to Hastings several times and never felt any anger. or hatred.

Authorities said the victim, Roberta Wiedermeier, was sexually assaulted and killed with a single shot to the head. Her body was found in the trunk of her car in Inglewood, near Los Angeles.

Hastings was charged with murder under special circumstances and the district attorney’s office requested the death penalty, but the jury was deadlocked. A second jury found him guilty, and in 1988 he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hastings maintained that he had been innocent since his arrest.

During the victim’s autopsy, the coroner performed a sexual assault examination and semen was found in an oral swab, the district attorney’s office said in October.

Hastings requested a DNA test in 2000, but the DA’s office denied the request at the time. Hastings filed a plea of ​​not guilty with the District Attorney’s Conviction Verification Unit in 2021, and a DNA test last June showed the semen was not his.

The DNA profile was entered into a government database and matched with a person convicted of armed kidnapping and forcible copulation with a female victim who was placed in the trunk of a car. Suspect Kenneth Packnett died in prison in 2020, according to prosecutors.

Hastings, who was 69 when he was released from prison last October, told reporters at the time that he prayed that the day of his release would come.

“I’m not standing here as an embittered person, but I just want to enjoy life now while I have it,” Hastings said.

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