Maurice Hastings was convicted in Los Angeles of murder and two attempted murders he did not commit. At his 1986 trial, the prosecutor sought the death penalty, but the jury hung. He was convicted at his second trial in 1988 and, although the prosecutor again sought the death penalty, the jury returned a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Hastings always maintained his innocence and even refused a plea deal that would have allowed parole if he admitted to the crime.
He tried for years to get DNA testing beginning in 2000 but was repeatedly denied by the LA district attorney’s office. Finally, Paula Mitchell, director of the Los Angeles Innocence Project, interceded and, working with the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit, was able to have the biological evidence in his case DNA tested in June 2022. In early October, the test results wholly excluded Hastings and implicated a man convicted of committing similar crimes who had been serving time in prison. (He died in prison in 2000.)
On October 20, the district attorney’s office joined the Los Angeles Innocence Project in asking the court to vacate Hastings’ conviction and release Hastings from prison immediately. The court agreed.
No one could fault Hastings if he were bitter toward a justice system that sent him to prison for 38 years for a murder and two attempted murders he didn’t commit. But he is determined to live the life stolen from him when he was 31 with joy.
At a news conference called by Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón to announce his conviction had been vacated, Hastings said, “I prayed for many years that this day would come. I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.”
On March 1, the court found Hastings factually innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted.