DNA evidence frees California man after nearly 40 years in prison
A man who spent almost 40 years in prison in the US – and almost faced the death penalty – is finally free thanks to long-untested DNA evidence that pointed to a different person.
Maurice Watkins, 69, was put behind bars in 1983 for murder and two attempted murders.
But his conviction and life sentence were dropped, nearly 39 years later, at the request of prosecutors and his lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University.
“I prayed for many years that this day would come,” Mr Hastings said at a news conference on Friday.
“I am not pointing fingers, I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.”
The victim in the case, Roberta Wydermyer, was sexually assaulted and killed by a single gunshot to the head, authorities said.
Her body was found in the trunk of her vehicle in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood.
Mr Hastings was charged with special-circumstance murder and the district attorney's office sought the death penalty but the jury deadlocked.
A second jury convicted him and he was sentenced in 1988 to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Mr Hastings has maintained he was innocent since the time of his arrest.
At the time of the victim's autopsy, the coroner conducted a sexual assault examination and semen was detected in an oral swab, the district attorney's statement said.
Mr Hastings sought DNA testing in 2000, but at that time the DA's office denied the request.
He submitted a claim of innocence to the DA's Conviction Integrity Unit last year and DNA testing last June found that the semen was not his.
The DNA profile was put into a state database this month and was matched to a person who was convicted of an armed kidnapping in which a female victim was placed in a vehicle's trunk as well as the forced oral copulation of a woman.
That suspect, whose name was not released, died in prison in 2020.
The district attorney's office said it is working with police to further investigate the involvement of the dead person in the case.
“What has happened to Mr Hastings is a terrible injustice,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.
“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.”