A California man wrongfully imprisoned for 38 years accepted a $25 million settlement after being found factually innocent in one of the state’s largest wrongful-conviction payouts.
A Southern California man, Maurice Hastings, aged 70, has accepted a $25 million settlement from the city of Inglewood after spending nearly four decades behind bars for a murder he did not commit. He was found “factually innocent” by a California Superior Court in 2023 and had been pursuing a lawsuit against two Inglewood police detectives and the estate of a district attorney’s office employee before the settlement was reached.
Hastings was arrested in 1983 in connection with the carjacking, rape and murder of Roberta Wydermyer, and the attempted murder of her husband and a friend. DNA evidence tested in 2022 later tied the crime to a different suspect, Kenneth Packnett, who died in 2020. Hastings was freed in October 2022 after the court vacated his conviction.
In a statement, Hastings said, “No amount of money could ever restore the 38 years of my life that were stolen from me … But this settlement is a welcome end to a very long road, and I look forward to moving on with my life.” Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. also acknowledged the limits of compensation: “We definitely wish the gentleman the best going forward in his life.”
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