GIST: "Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that his office has determined exoneree Maurice Hastings should be found factually innocent for a 1983 murder he did not commit.
“Our Conviction Integrity Unit launched a full investigation into Mr. Hasting’s claim of factual innocence. They interviewed witnesses and carefully reviewed evidence and determined that we believe Mr. Hastings to be factually innocent of the crimes which occurred 40 years ago. Tomorrow we will join his lawyers in asking the court to find him innocent,” District Attorney Gascón said.
Maurice Hastings survived a nightmare. He spent nearly four decades in prison exhausting every avenue to prove his innocence while being repeatedly denied. But Mr. Hastings has remained steadfast and faithful that one day he would hear a judge proclaim his innocence. We hope tomorrow is that day.”
District Attorney Gascón was joined today by Mr. Hastings and Paula Mitchell, director of the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University, Los Angeles, for a tour of the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center.
“Maurice Hastings was able to prove his innocence, in large part, due to the federal funding that Cal State LA’s CFSI has been granted. This funding makes it possible to test DNA evidence in wrongful conviction cases with claims of actual innocence,” Mitchell said.
The group met with students from the university’s forensic science graduate training program. The Los Angeles Innocence Project is the only one of its kind in the nation that is housed within a program equipped with labs and crime reconstruction facilities.
Mr. Hastings served more than 38 years in state prison for the 1983 murder of Roberta Wydermyer and two attempted murders.
He narrowly escaped being sentenced to death and was sentenced in 1988 to life in state prison without the possibility of parole after his first trial resulted in a hung jury.
From the time of his arrest, Mr. Hastings has maintained his innocence.
He submitted a claim of innocence with the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit in 2021 and last June DNA testing which matched another person, Kenneth Packnett.
In October, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan approved a request by the District Attorney’s Office and Los Angeles Innocence Project to vacate the conviction and immediately release him from prison.
Now, Mr. Hastings will ask Judge Ryan tomorrow to grant him the legal finding that he is factually innocent that will clear his name and possibly obtain relief.
After four months of investigation since the conviction was vacated, the District Attorney’s Office firmly believes that Mr. Hastings should be found factually innocent and that Kenneth Packnett was the actual killer."
The entire story can be read at:
https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news/district-attorney-gasc-n-la-innocence-project-seek-factual-innocence-maurice-hastings
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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