An innocent man who spent 38 years behind bars in California was awarded $25 million in what his lawyers called the largest wrongful conviction settlement in state history. The settlement was reached in August, according to court documents made public on Monday, per the AP. Maurice Hastings, 72, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection with the 1983 sexual assault and murder of Roberta Wydermyer, who was killed by a single gunshot to the head. His lawsuit accused two Inglewood Police Department officers and the Los Angeles District Attorney investigator at the time of framing Hastings.
"No amount of money could ever restore the 38 years of my life that were stolen from me," Hastings said in a statement. "But this settlement is a welcome end to a very long road, and I look forward to moving on with my life." It comes after decades of legal battles where Hastings pleaded his innocence. He sought DNA testing of evidence from a sexual assault examination during the victim's autopsy 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 in 2021, and DNA testing found that the semen was not his. In 2022, when he was 69, Hastings' conviction was vacated at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers.
The DNA profile was put into a state database and matched to a person who was convicted of a separate armed kidnapping and forced copulation of a female victim who was placed in a vehicle's trunk—harrowing details that closely resembled Wydermyer's killing. Law enforcement apprehended the suspect, Kenneth Packnett, less than three weeks after the 1983 murder in connection with an unrelated car theft, finding jewelry and a coin purse that matched the items Wydermyer had when she was murdered, Hastings' lawyers said. Packnett wasn't investigated for Wydermyer's murder at the time. He died in 2020 in prison where he was serving a separate sentence, prosecutors said.
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