SoCal man awarded $25M for wrongful conviction after 38 years in prison

The city of Inglewood has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a wrongful conviction lawsuit brought by a man who spent 38 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

Maurice Hastings, 72, was convicted of sexual assault and murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection with the 1983 killing of Roberta Wydermyer. Decades later, DNA testing led to his exoneration.

“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.”

His lawyers have said they believe the settlement is the largest for a wrongful conviction in California history.

“This historic settlement is a powerful vindication for Mr. Hastings, who has shown remarkable fortitude first in fighting to prove his innocence, and then in showing that he was framed,” attorney Nick Brustin said. "Police departments throughout California and across the country should take notice that there is a steep price to pay for allowing such egregious misconduct on their watch.”

LAist reached out to the city of Inglewood by telephone but has not heard back.

Background on the case

After two trials, a jury found Hastings guilty in 1988 of murdering 36-year-old Wydermyer and attempting to murder her husband and his friend. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

For more than two decades, Hastings had asked for DNA collected from semen found in the victim's mouth to be tested. Two L.A. County district attorneys fought against it.
Finally, former District Attorney George Gascón agreed, and testing matched DNA from the crime to a man serving time in prison for kidnapping and sexual assault.

Hastings' verdict was vacated in 2022 when he was 69. In 2023, a Superior Court declared him factually innocent.

In his lawsuit against the city of Inglewood, which was headed to trial this month, Hasting’s lawyers pointed to how a police detective “fixated” on Hastings despite evidence that pointed to innocence. According to the lawsuit, the detective coerced eyewitnesses to identify Hastings, suppressed alibi evidence and falsified witness statements.

The detective admitted he buried critical evidence that would have supported Hastings’ innocence, according to Hastings’ lawyers.

“What happened in this case represents policing at its absolute worst,” attorney Katie McCarthy said.

Hastings’ attorneys said the Inglewood Police Department ignored overwhelming evidence that another man, Kenneth Packnett, was the true perpetrator of the crimes.

Less than three weeks after the murder, police had Packnett in custody on suspicion of an unrelated car theft.

When he was arrested, Packnett had jewelry and a coin purse with him that matched the items Wydermyer had been wearing when she was killed. He also had the same type of gun that was used to shoot the victims.

Police never investigated Packnett for the crimes, according to Hastings’ attorneys.

Exonerations linked to misconduct by officials

Hastings has been out of prison since 2022. Today, he lives a quiet life in Southern California, where he is active in his church and volunteers distributing meals to people experiencing homelessness, according to a statement from his lawyers.

“I thank God that I’ve made it to the other side of this decades-long ordeal, and I thank my family and legal team for their steadfast support over the years,” he said.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, there have been 3,733 people exonerated of their crimes since 1989. Collectively, they spent 34,667 years behind bars.

The registry’s annual 2024 report — issued in April — said official misconduct continues to be a major factor in exonerations.

Official misconduct occurred in 104 or 71% of exonerations that occurred last year, according to the registry. Most of those cases involved more than one kind of misconduct, such as the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense (95 cases), witness tampering (43 cases) and perjury by an official actor (39 cases).

Race remains an important factor too — 78% of exonerations last year (115 out of 147) were people of color. Nearly 60% of the exonerees were Black.