Man Exonerated After 38 Years Behind Bars for Murder He Did Not Commit
(MENAFN) Maurice Hastings has been declared innocent by a judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday, after spending more than 38 years in prison for a 1983 murder he did not commit. The decision comes after long-untested DNA evidence pointed to a different suspect, which led to the vacation of Hastings’ conviction last October. Prosecutors and Hastings’ lawyers returned to court to ask Judge William C. Ryan to declare him innocent of the crime that took place 40 years ago.
The Wednesday declaration by Judge Ryan that Hastings is “factually innocent” indicates that the evidence clearly proves Hastings’ innocence in the crime. Hastings was released from prison last year after prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project requested to vacate his conviction.
District Attorney George Gascón expressed relief for Hastings and said that he had “survived a nightmare” by spending almost four decades in prison and being repeatedly denied his innocence. Gascón praised Hastings for his unwavering faith that one day a judge would declare his innocence.
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