"More than 40 years after he was arrested for a murder he didn't commit, a Southern California man accepted a $25-million wrongful conviction settlement offered by the city of Inglewood on Monday. Maurice Hastings, 70, spent 38 years in prison before being found factually innocent by a California Superior Court in 2023. He was in the process of suing two Inglewood police detectives and the estate of an L.A. County district attorney's employee before the city settled."
""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." Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. agreed that money couldn't compensate for "all those lost years, all the missed opportunities and times with your family." "We definitely wish the gentleman the best going forward in his life," Butts said."
Maurice Hastings, 70, spent 38 years in prison following a 1983 arrest for carjacking, rape and the murder of Roberta Wydermyer and related attempted murders. A California Superior Court found him factually innocent in 2023. Hastings pursued legal claims against two Inglewood police detectives and the estate of an L.A. County district attorney's employee before the city of Inglewood offered a $25-million settlement, which he accepted. His law firm described the settlement as the largest in state history for a wrongful conviction. The Los Angeles Innocence Project and the California Forensic Science Institute at Cal State LA helped lead efforts to exonerate him.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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