A California man has been declared innocent after spending four decades behind bars for a crime new DNA evidence proved he did not commit.
Maurice Hastings, 69, can now file a claim for wrongful incarceration and receive relief for the years he lost while in prison.
The Los Angeles District Attorney worked with the Los Angeles Innocence Project and said the man had “survived a nightmare.”
Hastings who was convicted of sexually assaulting, kidnapping, and fatally shooting Roberta Wydermyer in the head in 1983, was released from prison in October 2022 after a judge vacated his conviction. DNA evidence that was never tested during the trial proved that another man violated the woman.
Despite the October ruling, he needed the courts to officially declare him innocent for him to be exonerated.
On Wednesday, Mar. 1, Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan affirmed that Hastings was “factually innocent,” NBC News reports.
Hastings could not contain his gratitude, sharing with the court after the hearing, “It means a lot. I’m grateful for the judge’s ruling and the apologies — everything has been wonderful today.”
“I’m able to let everyone know I was innocent of this crime,” he said to the LAist, “I can just move forward.”
In the state of California, a person can file a petition for a certificate of factual innocence and have the court make a finding that unequivocally declares they did not commit a crime. This is an important declaration as it sets Hastings’ legal team up to file a civil lawsuit and receive compensation for his wrongful conviction.
District Attorney George Gascón, whose office worked with Hastings’ legal team, acknowledged that after spending 38 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, he must have “survived a nightmare.”
“He spent nearly four decades in prison exhausting every avenue to prove his innocence while being repeatedly denied. But Mr. Hastings has remained…
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