Maurice Hastings Got $25M After 38 Lost Years

Maurice Hastings lost 38 years of his life for a murder prosecutors later admitted he did not commit - and California is now paying $25 million for the mistake.

The evidence was there the whole time

Hastings was convicted in the 1980s for the murder of Roberta Wydermyer in Inglewood, California, and sentenced to life without parole. But key biological evidence had been collected during the original investigation, including bodily fluids that could have identified the attacker.

He kept asking for DNA testing

According to the Associated Press, Hastings sought DNA testing in 2000 and was denied. More than two decades later, he submitted a claim of innocence to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit. When the testing finally happened, the DNA excluded Hastings.

The real suspect had crossed their path already

The DNA instead matched Kenneth Packnett, a man who had been arrested less than three weeks after the 1983 murder in an unrelated case. Hastings' lawyers said Packnett was found with jewelry and a coin purse matching items the victim had when she was killed. He was never properly investigated for the murder at the time.

The payoff came far too late

Hastings was released in 2022, declared factually innocent in 2023, and later received a $25 million settlement described as the largest wrongful-conviction settlement in California history. Hastings said no amount of money could restore the years taken from him, but the settlement finally closed a fight that had dragged on for decades.