An innocent man who spent nearly four decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit will finally see justice, though nothing can return the years he lost.
Maurice Hastings, 72, has been awarded $25 million in what his lawyers describe as the largest wrongful conviction settlement in California’s history. The agreement was finalized in August but only became public this week through newly released court documents.
Hastings was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life without parole for the sexual assault and murder of 30-year-old Roberta Wydermyer, who was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. For years, Hastings insisted on his innocence, but his pleas were ignored as he remained locked away.
The lawsuit accused two Inglewood Police Department officers and a Los Angeles District Attorney’s investigator of framing Hastings for the crime…