Los Angeles: The court has finally found the accused, who was imprisoned for 38 years for the murder he did not commit, to be innocent. The incident took place in the US. A Los Angeles judge has acquitted a man who spent more than 38 years in prison for a 1983 manslaughter.
DNA evidence is helpful in identifying the real suspect. Convicted man Maurice Hastings was released from prison after long-unexamined DNA evidence pointed to the real suspect.
A judge vacated Hastings’ sentence in October at the request of prosecutors from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and lawyers from the Los Angeles Innocence Project.
Prosecutors and Hastings’ attorneys had asked Judge William C. Ryan to take additional steps in the case and declare Hastings innocent of the 38-year-old murder.
The judge’s declaration of factual innocence on Wednesday means that the evidence conclusively proves that Hastings did not commit the crime. District Attorney George Gascon said Hastings survived a nightmare.
George Gascon said Hastings spent nearly four decades in prison trying to prove his innocence, but Hastings firmly believed that one day he would hear a judge proclaim his innocence.