Maurice Hastings released after almost 40 years in prison for Inglewood murder
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who spent more than 38 years behind bars for a 1983 murder and two attempted murders has been released from a California prison after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different person, the Los Angeles County district attorney said Friday.
The conviction of Maurice Hastings, 69, and a life sentence were vacated during an Oct. 20 court hearing at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University, Los Angeles.
“I prayed for many years that this day would come,” Hastings said at a news conference Friday, adding: “I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.”
“What has happened to Mr. Hastings is a terrible injustice,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “The justice system is not perfect, and when we learn of new evidence which causes us to lose confidence in a conviction, it is our obligation to act swiftly.”
The victim in the case, Roberta Wydermyer, was sexually assaulted and killed by a single gunshot to the head, authorities said. Her body was found in the trunk of her vehicle in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood.
Hastings was charged with special-circumstance murder and the district attorney’s office sought the death penalty but the jury deadlocked. A second jury convicted him and he was sentenced in 1988 to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Hastings has maintained he was innocent since the time of his arrest.
At the time of the victim’s autopsy, the coroner conducted a sexual assault examination and semen was detected in an oral swab, the district attorney’s statement said.
Hastings sought DNA testing in 2000 but at that time the DA’s office denied the request. Hastings submitted a claim of innocence to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit last year and DNA testing last June found that the semen was not his.
The DNA profile was put into a state database this month and was matched to a person who was convicted of an armed kidnapping in which a female victim was placed in a vehicle’s trunk as well as the forced oral copulation of a woman.
That suspect, whose name was not released, died in prison in 2020.
The district attorney’s office said it is working with police to further investigate the involvement of the dead person in the case.
At 15 Joe Ligon was joined a group of drunk teens on a robbery and assault spree that left two Read more
Officials in Nelson County, Virginia, have confirmed that they have found the body of Alexis Tiara Murphy, the teenage girl who was murdered Read more
Former NFL star running back Herschel Walker, 58, recently spoke against a bill that would give the path way for Read more
A woman who oversaw a murderous religious cult in Florida in the 1980s was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Read more
A Baltimore, Maryland mother says she believed her son would graduate from high school this coming June, but after four Read more
Nonprofit George Floyd Global Memorial (GFGM) and local organizers will be gathering on Monday for an interfaith Day of Global Read more
Actor Winston Duke is set to plan Marcus Garvey in the upcoming film, Marked Man. The film will be made Read more
The King of Pop met his match on stage with Britney Spears during their performance of "The Way You Make Read more
Set in 1800's America, A now free black woman is retelling her worst experience as a slave, where she was Read more
The trial of Derek Chauvin, which was scheduled for Monday, has been postponed to Tuesday while questions arise about the Read more