A man who spent 38 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit has been released after DNA evidence proved he was innocent.
Maurice Hastings, now 69, was locked upfor the 1983 murder of Roberta Wydermyer in California and two attempted murders.
But after a DNA test was finally allowed by the DA's office, a different man who died in prison in 2020 was instead implicated.
At a news conference after his release, Hastings said: “I'm not standing up here a bitter man.
“I just want to enjoy my life while I have it. And I just want to move forward.”
Throughout his many years in prison, he always professed his innocence.
For decades Hastings had asked to have his DNA tested but was denied. With the help of the Los Angeles Innocence Project he got the test, which overturned his conviction.
Announcing Hastins' release, LA County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement: “What has happened to Mr. Hastings is a terrible injustice.
“The justice system is not perfect, and when we learn of new evidence which causes us to lose confidence in a conviction, it is our obligation to act swiftly.”
The body of victim Roberta Wydermyer was found in the trunk of her car with a single gunshot wound to the head.
The coroner conducted an oral swab which detected semen.
When Hastings was charged the LA County District Attorney's Office sought the death penalty. After the first jury deadlocked, the second jury convicted him, and he was instead sentenced in 1988 to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Paula Mitchell, who heads the Los Angeles Innocence Project, said: “Had the jury imposed a death sentence instead of life without the possibility of parole, Mr. Hastings may not have lived to see this day.
“The possibility that an innocent person could be executed is real. Our criminal justice system simply has too much room for error, as this case demonstrates.”
In 2000, Hastings had requested DNA testing to prove his innocence, but the request was denied by the LA County District Attorney's Office.
In June this year, the DNA testing found that the semen on the oral swab was not from Mr. Hastings.
Analysis identified a match to a person in the database who hadbeen convicted of an armed kidnapping where he placed a woman in a trunk of a vehicle as well as the kidnap and rape of a young woman for which he was sentenced to 56 years in custody.
